It's All in the Genes
by Tribal Matriarch
Summary: General O'Neill has a problem... actually he has three. And all of them were genetic. There is a family tree for anyone confused later in the fic http:img70.imageshack.usimg70104treenj5.jpg Some bad language... not too bad in the story. Sam Jack
1. Chapter 1

**1**

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill had a problem, actually he had lots, but at least three of them were going to come back and bite him in the backside one day soon.

He had finally decided to retire… nothing on earth was going to stop him, he was gone! Until the President himself called with just one sentence "Not goin' to happen" He could always quit, but if he did he lost his pension and everything else he had worked so hard for all his adult life, and though he knew two could live quite well on a Colonels wage he had no intention of being a kept man.

The whole reason for his wishing to retire was because he had been put in charge of everything alien in the world, so no matter which branch of the AF Samantha Carter moved into HE would be her commanding officer(they would never let her go into a 'normal' posting, not with her knowledge and smarts), and the frat regs meant he would not be allowed to be with her, which was a pity as they had got married two years ago, when they had a two week gap when she was in Area 51 and he was still in charge of the SGC, before his DC move.

Now she was almost 3 months pregnant and he had hoped to retire and avoid the courts martial that he could feel pressing against his spine.

He had to come clean, they had done nothing wrong until after they were married, (and really…was it _wrong_ then?) though he had no proof of course, as his wife would say, you cannot prove a negative!

George! He would have a word with George, now that he was 'retired' himself he would be able to give advice without having to turn them in.

He shoved it to the back of his mind as he looked at one of his other problems and sighed.

His 'niece/daughter' Cassie… she had met someone while at the AF academy and it looked serious, they were talking about getting engaged! Though Jack knew she had a life of her own to live, and she was 21 now after all… he still saw the child who couldn't hold the puppy in her arms because it was too big! Added to that there was a 'problem' with the young man, one that no one but he knew about!

Which brought him to a third problem of his…the ancient gene therapy developed by Carson Beckett was failing, people who had been given the therapy were losing their ability to use the ancient tech, which meant more people had to be found who had the gene naturally.

Carson was dead, killed in Atlantis, and there were few people who had clearance and experience to try again, and those few all said the same thing… if it didn't work once, it wouldn't again.

Repeated attempts to reintroduce the gene in people who had successfully absorbed it before failed, and the ancient database that was still lurking in the back of Jacks mind was telling him that it would be dangerous to keep trying with the same people, it could lead to a breakdown of their natural genetic code!

So, they HAD to find people who had inherited the gene the same way he and Sheppard had, the old fashioned way. Though he could always use this as a reason why Sam was pregnant… yeah that would work… 'Mr President I can't find enough people so I decided to breed some?' he could see seven years in Leavenworth for that!

Everything was linked… everything connected…and everything was a mess!

**OoΩoO**

"Wilby residence" the young woman said

"Is George there?" he asked

"Granddad! Phone!" she shouted

"Who is it?" he heard the Texan bellow

"Excuse me…" she started to ask

"Kayla!" he said, a small whine in his voice because she hadn't recognised him.

"Oh sorry…" he smiled as she recognised his voice "It's Uncle Jack!"

He heard the heavy footsteps approach and the receiver being handed over "Thanks honey… Jack! Anything wrong son?"

"You could say that" he told the older man

"Official?"

"Not really"

"Fancy a beer?"

"I'm in DC" he reminded him

"Then come to the Springs, I'm sure you can think of some reason to visit" he heard a chuckle. He knew he could, if it was urgent, but if he was going to travel all that way he wanted to spend every second with his wife! Much as he loved and respected his former CO, and needed his advice, he knew his hormones would not allow him to get anywhere near the Wilby/Hammond home… he would go straight to the SGC, and if she wasn't there he would go to his own home.

"Tell you what, I have a meeting with the Chief of Staff on Friday, can it wait?" it was Tuesday, hell it had waited this long…

"Yeah it can wait Sir" he said

"Jack! You don't have to sir me, remember. I'm retired anyway now" he said

"Yes sir" Jack grinned "See you on Friday… I'll send my car around for you when you finish your meeting, we can go for steaks if you fancy afterwards"

"Just don't tell Angie" George said "she has me on this damn diet… she says she wants me to live forever!" Jack laughed at the thought of the General on a diet, he had always been a rotund person but Jack had never seen him eat half the calories that he himself consumed, even now when he was no longer in the field 

Jack replaced the phone still grinning at the thought of George Hammond not being allowed red meat. Well, with luck he would have one problem sorted by the end of the week, or at least an idea… now what to do about the other two?

**OoΩoO**

General Maynard sat in the chair on the other side of the desk, Jack hid a grin inside as he watched him trying to get comfortable, Jack had deliberately swapped the nice chair he usually kept for visitors for the one he was now sitting in… it was HIS fault Jack couldn't retire, and he knew it was petty to play tricks like this, but it was about as far as he could go at the moment in revenge.

"You sure this is the way to go?" Maynard said

"Can't think of any other way, we can't start dragging people in off the street and testing them, at least if we start testing as they enter the Academy then we know who to concentrate on" he knew almost definitely that at least 2 at the Colorado Springs Air Academy would prove positive, and several more in other services, he had not abused his powers as head of homeworld security, but he hoped that his searches over the last 2 days had gone unnoticed.

"You know something" the Chief of Staff accused him

"Know? No…" he stalled, he had lied before to superiors, but not when it was important as this was. "I suspect something" he said, which was true… he didn't know for SURE as yet, though there was a very high probability.

"So… I have to ask myself why someone was looking through the personnel files of certain army people… last names" he referred to a paper, Jack's heart sank "Flynn, Cohen, and O'Brien" he looked up "and also searches for the same surnames in the air force, the marines and the navy"

Jack wondered how much he knew… really, he didn't want to spill everything if there was no need.

"Would you believe a hunch?" he asked hopefully, knowing as he said it that it wouldn't fly.

"O'Neill" lucky he was immune to that tone of voice now, having heard it so very very often in the past "What do you suspect?" the black man put huge emphasis on that last word

"Look, my mandate on this is to find people with the ancient gene, I just think it would be wise to test people with the same ethnic background, after all in the older European cultures inbreeding was rife, you never travelled far to find your partner, so everyone in a village was related, which would reinforce the gene if it was present, which it was, at least somehow I inherited it"

The Army officer looked at the paper "No mention of O'Neill here" he said

"No" Jack replied, now they were getting onto dangerous ground

"So, you had the only Irish Catholic parents in the 1950s that didn't have a huge family?"

Oh yeah, he knew! Jack looked down at the blotter on his desk, surprised to see a pen in bits all over it, damn, he thought he had stopped himself doing that!

"So… I had my aide run a check for a certain persons birth certificate, strangely he couldn't find one" Jack looked everywhere but at the man opposite

"So… what's your real name?" he asked

"Jonathan O'Neill" Jack replied

"Birth name?"

"Jonathan O'Neill" he insisted

"Why no record then?" Maynard asked

"Because O'Neill was my mothers maiden name, and you know how things were back then!" he said, his voice tight. His mother had married soon after his birth, but the damage was done, she had been thrown out of her family and was shunned and scorned by her whole small town for years. His grandparents O'Neill had never held his birth against him, in fact they looked after him through most of the long summer holidays on their farm in Minnesota where they moved shortly after his birth, but their daughter may as well not have existed. "The others… O'Brien was her married name, and Cohen and Flynn are my sisters married names, I know several of the kids have joined up in one service or another"

"Full sisters and brothers?" Maynard asked… Jack bristled at the implication, but he realised why the General was asking, if they were only half his siblings and he got the gene from his father…

"Yeah full sibs" he said "my father was posted abroad and never knew she was pregnant until he got back, I was a month old by the time he finally was notified, he married her later in the year and changed my name, he fudged the birth certificate, 'cos his cousin worked at the town hall," he snorted "but I was still the town bastard, everyone was careful to remind me often and later on I decided to change it back"

"You didn't get on with your dad?" he asked, Jack looked at him sharply.

"Will that be all Sir?" he asked his voice cold and saying everything he wasn't. The man opposite sighed and rose from the uncomfortable chair

"Yes Jack, that will be all" he stood waiting but Jack was in no mood to rise and salute, he was mad enough not to give a shit if he was reprimanded, but Maynard surprised him by walking through the door without another word.

**OoΩoO**

"Jack" George Hammond was looking good, 'retirement' seemed to suit him.

"Sir… George" he stepped back into his office and allowed the older man to sit in the comfortable seat he had had returned into the room.

"I've just had a very interesting conversation with Francis Maynard" George started "How many members of the family do you have in the service?"

"Fourteen" Jack mumbled

"Jesus Jack, and you only just NOW mention that there are 14 potential users of ancient tech in the armed services?"

"It wasn't important before, the gene therapy was working!"

"It still needed someone with a natural gene to activate everything!"

Jack looked puzzled, he had no idea what the man opposite just said. George seemed to realise and clarified the situation.

"Take the puddle jumpers, Sheppard had to initialise each one before someone with the gene therapy could actually use it."

"Oh? I didn't know that" Jack said "But I didn't touch that much down in Antarctica"

"No, but one of the first people they brought in, while you were still frozen, was Dr Beckett and he had the gene too, he initialised the machines by accident before we found out about the actual gene and everything."

That explained it, he was asleep when it all happened. He nodded his understanding and watched as his hands took apart another pen… he HAD to stop doing this!

"Jack? I take it this was not what you had to tell me?" George leaned forward slightly

"Carter" Jack said "she's pregnant" he saw his old CO draw back to a straight up, stiff spine position, this wasn't looking good.

"I didn't know she was seeing anyone" George said carefully "anyone I know?"

Jack reached inside his shirt and took his wedding ring off his dog tags, he held it up so the symbol for earth was clear on the thick yellow band.

"You could say that" he said as he slipped it onto his ring finger, George closed his eyes and leaned back

"Oh crap" he said

**OoΩoO**


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

He still had no idea what the hell was happening, Carter had been removed from front line duty, which she was pissed about, though she had known it was going to happen the first time they found out. Women in her condition weren't allowed on the front lines, it was too dangerous. She had already been on world for over two months, dealing with problems here rather than out there… and she had been itching to get back into it when she found out she was pregnant.

However they wouldn't allow her to work on the tech coming through the gate either, there was too much that could go wrong, they said, and she was too valuable to risk. He tried to get her to see it the way he did, but she had stormed and ranted for over a week about how unfair it was!

Then the president had called him, and said he still wasn't allowed to retire! Even after all this, but he also didn't have permission acknowledge his marriage publicly! Like that was going to stop him! Basically it looked as if everyone was going to pretend it hadn't happened, or at least that the baby wasn't his, which was ridiculous!

He had started wearing his ring all the time, reminding them all that he was NOT going to pretend he was not the father of his baby.

And to top it off he had received an invitation to Cassies engagement party, in three weeks time, and he had no idea how the hell he could get out of it! He had tried telling her she was too young, she should wait… what happened when he was deployed somewhere and she was left behind… all the usual stuff, but she was as tough as her mother had been, and just as inflexible.

At least his plan to test all new officers, recruits and Academy intakes for the ancient gene was being put into effect, they would all soon know how many potential users there were, and officers and enlisted already in the field would be tested and then given the opportunity to go to Atlantis.

Jon, his teenage clone, had already volunteered and departed. Jack was glad, he had hated dumping the kid in high school and at least the current crisis had given him an excuse to get back in touch with the boy, after all if Jack had the gene his clone HAD to have it! It wasn't like he had to have loads of training in how to use things… hell he had a better background than anyone else already there!

The phone rang, his display told him it was Sam, so he got up and shut the door to his outer office before picking it up.

"Hi" he said

"Hi" she replied, her voice subdued "Look… sorry about going off at you when…"

"S'ok" he said gently "I understand how unfair it seems to you" and he did, there was no similar circumstance for men, this was wholly a female problem, and he knew how she hated being treated different to her male counterparts, but this couldn't be helped, she WAS different and things had to be done to protect her and the baby.

"Cassie has just got in touch AGAIN, she wants to know why she hasn't heard from you about the party" he should have known, Cassie, Daniel and Teal'c were the only three people who had known about the wedding and Cassie was not below using the knowledge to get her way.

He had been dodging her calls for the last 48 hours so she came at him from behind! He sighed "Look love, I'm not sure I can make it" he told her

"Jack, of course you can, it's our anniversary weekend, you arranged leave ages ago for it, that's why Cass chose that date!"

"Oh… I didn't realise." He had of course "I was planning on a surprise trip for the two of us" good thinking Jack, only now you have to plan something quick…doh!

"I can't miss this Jack, it means so much to her… why are you so reluctant to come?"

"No reason" he said lying through his teeth, "look why don't we have dinner the weekend before with the two of them? That way they won't miss us at the party" He could arrange to go down just for the one night, and back the next morning early, a pain in the arse but he could manage.

"That's a great idea" she sounded happy "but we are NOT going to miss the party Jack!" and she used that tone of voice that made him know she was determined. He was screwed.

"OK" he said "Tell Cass we will be there" he heard someone in the background say 'YES!' "She's listening in isn't she?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes Uncle Jack" she shouted from what sounded like across the room, Sam giggled, doing wonderful things to his body when the noise travelled down the line.

He spoke with his wife for another few minutes, each reluctant to end the connection, but eventually one of his secretaries poked her head through the door and told him the chairman of he IOA was in the outer office and he had to say goodbye. He stood up as the annoying little man entered the room and pasted a smile on his face… who said he couldn't do diplomacy?

**OoΩoO**

The more he thought about it the more he didn't want to meet Cassies boyfriend, but there was no way short of being shot that he could get out of it, Sam had arranged for the young man to come to dinner with Cassie that night, she hadn't exactly threatened him when he had tried to cancel… well not in so many words, but being told the sofa was comfortable to sleep on was a broad enough hint that if he didn't turn up he better not think he was sleeping in bed with her for a long while.

After the amount of time he had spent sleeping alone, between being married to Sarah and marrying Sam, and the time he still was, when they lived so far apart, there was no way he was going to risk it! Actually Jack wasn't 100 sure that SHE could do it, but it wasn't worth trying to push it.

He caught a hop from DC to Peterson, arriving at 1800, sometimes being a General was cool, instead of waiting for 5 hours they 'just happened' to have a craft on the runway when he needed one. He just had to nip home and change into civvies before picking the girls up.

He borrowed a pool car from Peterson, his truck that he had asked Daniel to drop off at the base was nowhere to be seen, he hated driving strange cars, especially low ones like the one he had ended up with! It wasn't natural that a man of his height should be sat so low to the ground, but it was this or a jeep and he didn't think the basic sparse military jeep was suitable for taking the ladies out!

He had only just pulled away from the base when he developed a flat, he changed the wheel, somehow managing not to dirty his uniform at all, and was about to pull out again into the flow of traffic when a car pulled out of the base and rammed him from behind!

Someone up there hated him! Actually when he thought about it, a lot of people up there hated him!

No matter how many times he told the young Captain that it was a pool car and he should sort it out with the base motor pool, he kept getting apologies by the score, eventually he just got in the car and drove off leaving the poor man watching from the roadside. By that time it was too late to go change. He would have to go to dinner in his Class As!

He picked Sam up at the SGC and Cassie at the academy gates, her soon-to-be fiancé would meet them at the restaurant as he was busy until 1900, finishing up his last assignments as a pupil at the academy. Though Jack was tempted to wait anyway as it was already close enough… they all decided to go get their table and he could have a drink… he was going to need it!

"Crap" Jack said as he looked at the door from where they were sat in the booth, the young Captain who had crashed into him had just walked into the place with a friend, he hoped he wouldn't spot him, the last thing he needed was more apologies!

Of course the Captain saw him, he was easy enough to spot in his blues. The young man paled and Jack tried to glare at him as a message not to interrupt his dinner, but no, he just wasn't that lucky.

"SIR!" the Captain stood to attention and saluted, Jack waved at him, they were in doors and the man wasn't in uniform!

"Loose the salute Captain" Jack told him, "and if you don't mind I'm not on duty so go about your business" Sam and Cassie looked at him for an explanation but he was in no mood to talk about it.

The Captains companion walked over to them and Cassie stood and kissed him, Oh great, this was the boyfriend.

"Sam" he leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek. Jack raised his eyebrows at the overly friendly act, Cassie was laughing at him, he could tell. "Sir" at least this was just a 'normal' type of sir, the type you would use to your girlfriends father rather than a senior officer.

"Uncle Jack, David… David, this is my Uncle Jack" he shook the proffered hand. The young Captain swallowed and paled slightly and then drew David aside.

"Give me a call when you want a lift back to the academy Dave, I'm off duty until 0200"

"Will do, and thanks for the lift Jon" he said

"Any time, after all she's going to be one of the family soon" he winked at Cassie and she blushed. Brilliant, as if Jack didn't have enough on his plate, he hadn't bothered checking the Captains name, but of course he knew who it was now!

"So" the young man sat down "I take it you want to know all about me sir" 'Not really', Jack thought, but he nodded his head and ordered a bottle of wine for the table, telling the waitress to give them a few more minutes before they ordered their meals.

"Well sir, I was born in Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis actually, my parents moved there after my youngest sister was born, I went to all the usual schools, did all the usual things and came to the Academy after leaving college and I am just about to be posted, which means that for a couple of years Cass and I will be separated. Which is the worst part of it, but we will cope" the young lovers gripped each others hands as if they were in danger of being sucked into a black hole, Jack could see their knuckles turning white!

"You haven't mentioned your parents much David, when we've met" Sam said

"You've met often?" Jack asked

"Quite a few times actually, Cassie introduced us a few months ago and you know I've been lecturing a bit more than usual" he winced at the dig at her not getting offworld.

"Well my parents are Grace and Michael Flynn, they are both Chicago born and bred, Dad was a Lt Col in the Air Force until about 5 years ago when he retired. Erm… I'm one of seven children… erm…" he seemed to run out of things to say, Jack threw back the glass of wine he had and helped himself to another. Sam looked at him strangely, she knew how much he hated wine usually.

"Lets order" Jack said waving over the waitress. Everyone ordered steak, and Cassie made sure that it was well done, of course. Janet had taught her well. They made small talk about the academy and where he was hoping to be posted until the food arrived.

"So David… one of seven eh?" Sam said, Jack concentrated on his food, ignoring the conversation as much as he could "Not a seventh son of a seventh son or anything are you?" she laughed

"No Ma'am" he laughed back "though we are of Irish stock I think my mother would have castrated my father if he wanted seven sons, she had the three girls first so it would have meant a lot bigger house!"

Everyone laughed, except Jack and Sam kicked him under the table. He didn't know what to say to the kid! He wished he had risked sleeping on the sofa.

"My dad moved around a lot, as they do in the services… well you would know all about that" both Sam and Jack nodded "but mom decided to stick near her parents until Grandma died, that's when the family all moved to Minnesota to be near to Great Grandma Ann, who owned a farm up there. Actually her name was O'Neill too sir, I would have thought we were related but she only had daughters so that doesn't fit… anyway, they moved in…erm… '78"

"'79" Jack said automatically, and wished to god he had kept his big mouth shut… why the hell couldn't he think before speaking?! All three of the tables occupants looked at him.

"Uncle Jack?" Cassie asked "Please don't tell me you did a Pete!" he almost spit the wine in his mouth out… 'doing a Pete!' did she think he would sink THAT low?

"What's 'a Pete'?" Sam asked and Cassie explained about Sams ex-fiancé and his background checks, which Jack had made sure she knew nothing about… sometimes Cassie had a big mouth too. Sam glared at him… oh she would so not let that drop!

"So Uncle Jack…?" Cassie pushed. He closed his eyes, hell they were going to find out soon enough anyway, he just wanted to limit the damage.

"I know Davids mom" he told them "I remember when she moved to Minneapolis" he hoped to god no one got the wrong idea about him and Grace! "His Grandma died in June of '79"

"You knew Grandma O'Brien too?" David asked

"Yeah" Jack confirmed

"Well Grandad is coming to the party next weekend, maybe the two of you can catch up?" he said, that was the last straw, Jack got up from the table and walked out of the place.

Sam followed him. "Jack!" she shouted "Wait!" he stopped, he had not thought about meeting HIM! He had hoped that he had died and no one had bothered telling him. He just wasn't that lucky!

"Sam love, sorry, I'm not feeling well, here the keys to the car, you drop everyone off, I'll meet you back home" he got out his cell and called for a taxi, one happened to pass as it was ringing and he flagged it down, he grabbed $40 from his wallet and handed her everything else.

He closed the cab door and gave the address before she could say anything else. Looked like he was sleeping on the sofa after all!

**OoΩoO**


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Sam came in not an hour after he had, she must have gone back in and packed up the meal straightaway. He was sprawled out on the sofa, having had a shower and changed into sweats, he actually wasn't lying to her back at the restaurant, he DID feel ill, he always did when he thought about HIM!

"Jack?" she said softly as she entered the living room, he thought about pretending to be asleep but he couldn't.

"Yeah" he said rubbing his hands over his face.

"What's wrong Jack?" she sat on the floor beside him.

"Nothing Sam, look I'm not sure I can be here next weekend, there's a lot on at work at the moment" he hated to hurt her but he really didn't want to do this!

"But Jack! It's our wedding anniversary" she said.

"Come to DC, at least we will see each other" he said.

"I promised Cassie I would be here, Jack you know she's only just got back on track from losing Janet! I can't let her down… you of all people…" he knew what she meant, if it was anyone else that Cassie was with he would be just the same as she was!

"Look, is there something about David?" she asked

"Naww he seems like a decent enough kid" Jack said, which was true. "Grace and Michael are good people, they would have raised him right"

"How well do you know them?" she asked, getting close to dangerous ground again

"Not seen them in years, actually probably not since before David was born" he said, he had seen the girls, and he was sure there was another boy older than David, but he had lost touch so long ago…

"Let's go to bed" she said and grabbed his hand to pull him up from where he lay. He noticed she was wearing her wedding ring and he lifted the hand to his lips and kissed it. "I'm not taking it off again until I'm back on front line duty" she said, "We are married and I don't care any more who knows" he grinned at her and swung himself up, he lifted her off her feet and carried her to the bedroom, he felt better all of a sudden!

**OoΩoO**

The tests had come back, it had not taken long as there was already a DNA database of serving officers, there were just the cadets that still needed testing. That took just an extra few days.

There were 70 candidates to chose from, the only problem was not everyone who carried the gene was adept at using the technology, each would have to be tested.

Beckett himself, able to initialise consoles etc, had been unable to control a single drone properly, never mind the 500 or so Jack could manage at once! They classed that control level as a 1

And not everyone could be taken down south and put into the chair. They contacted Jon in Atlantis and asked him and Sheppard to come up with something portable that they could use.

A life signs scanner was sent back after some thought, it looked like a PDA and could be carried about so people could try it, and depending on how strong the gene was depended on how accurate it showed things.

A weak, recessive gene, a 1, meant that you could get the basic 'there is something alive' scan most of the time, but the person may have to concentrate.

A stronger gene like Sheppards, a 3, could distinguish between Wraith and human.

There was another level between, one who could control without having to think too hard, but not get racial details… classed a 2.

Jack could get the heart rate and blood pressure of everything on the screen! His was classified a 4. So far he was the only 4 they had found (of course his clone was a 4 as well but the scientists were classing them as one person).

Unfortunately there was not a single person in the SGC, or with the security clearance, with the gene, which meant that until they could find another strong one, Jack was going to have to visit a lot of bases!

Luckily he knew where 15 were going to be the next weekend, 14 of whom were still on active service!

Actually thinking about it there were going to be at least 25 gene holders at the party, though some were miles too young.

Jack put his staff to organising the others, the ones he couldn't meet in Colorado Springs, into groups, the overseas contingent, which was most of the AF and an odd navy officer, and a few army were in the gulf and he could fly over and gather them all in one place and brief and test them together. The ones in mainland US he could either get to come to DC or the SGC or he could visit them wherever they were.

They had sent over 100 people to Atlantis so far, but few had the gene naturally, 70 tech users were not really enough to go around considering they needed some in the Milky Way as well! And not everyone would accept the posting anyway, this had to be a volunteer thing, with the Wraith threat being what it was!

He scrubbed his hands over his face trying desperately to think of how to find more… how many of Harrys people may be gene carriers? They had proof an ancient was around at some time, it was possible that someone there had the gene! He wondered if Carter would like to visit their old adversary and see if anyone could activate the scanner. It could cheer her up a bit!

He would ask her on Friday when he flew down.

**OoΩoO**

He decided to go commercial this time, and go a bit early. He booked himself in first class and was about to sit down when a stewardess came up to him.

"Excuse me sir, sorry to bother you, but are you Mr. Jack O'Neill?" he had decided not to book under his rank as it always drew attention.

"Yeah" he said

"The Captain would like a word with you, if you could just move forward" well this was new! After 9/11 no one was allowed forward, but Jack decided to go see what was happening and did as he was asked, he walked in.

"It IS you, you dog!" a huge coloured man engulfed him in a hug! "the tower said I had a VIP aboard, and I didn't believe them when they told me… who the fuck made YOU a General?"

Jack was speechless, Thomas! He hadn't seen him in over 20 years!

"Say something then dumbass" Thomas said

"Why?… you always talked enough for everyone" Jack said with a grin, the navigator laughed

"He hasn't changed then, he can talk all the way across the Atlantic and back!" he said and received a mock clout around the back of his head.

"So what you doing flying this bus?" Jack asked

"Got bored flying for the AF on routine missions, you know what an adrenalin junkie I was" Jack remembered, Thomas hadn't flown many routine missions though he had done some flying early on, he had soon been picked for the special ops squad with Jack, he had been brilliant at strategy, and he could spot a chameleon in a rainforest, but after a particularly bad op he had received a medical discharge, his nerves were shot. "Then I found out I couldn't give up the flying so I got a job with this lot of reprobates. So what you in charge of nowadays?" he asked

"Classified" Jack said with a grin.

"Should have known" he said "So why the heads up that you're on board?" Jack didn't know.

"Where did it come from?" Thomas asked over his shoulder, the co-pilot spoke to the tower and found out that it was the pilot of Air Force one who had clued them in! Evidently he was on stand by in case anything went wrong and the flight was delayed, and Jack needed a lift somewhere. The cockpit crew looked at him impressed, Jack groaned, so much for time off, and travelling quietly. He hated the fact that no matter where he went they were keeping tabs on him. And it was embarrassing to be offered AF1, though of course it wouldn't be called that unless the President himself was along for the trip!

They offered him the jump seat but he told them he would go back to the civvies area, he went back to his seat and ordered a scotch. The flight set off on time, at least he didn't have to switch to his 'standby'.

He was allowed to disembark first from the plane, everyone else had to wait until he cleared the aircraft before they could even unfasten their belts, and he walked out the airport to see Daniel there in the truck he was supposed to leave at Peterson the week before.

"Danny!" he said

"Jack" Jack opened the door and threw his bag in "Sam sent me, Lam has her in the infirmary" Jacks heart started speeding up… what the hell was wrong. Daniel noticed "Oh, no! Jack nothing wrong, Carolyn was just trying to monitor the Naquadah level in Sams blood, trying to see if the baby is going to inherit it" Oh yeah Sam had mentioned it now he came to think about it. His heart settled down a bit.

"So you coming to help set up the Academy hall?" he asked, Jack looked at him "We are all going to decorate the hall for the party tomorrow, come on it'll be fun" Daniel said

"Who is 'we all'?" Jack asked

"Sam, Teal'c me, Cam, Vala, Cassie, David, and his cousins Jacob and Jon"

"No one else?" Jack asked

"Nope, Davids family are all coming in either very late tonight or early tomorrow" he said, Jack decided that he could go help out. "They have hired a coach" Daniel continued, "and they have almost booked out the Super 8"

They had a fun time, Teal'c and Daniel arguing over the use of bunting, Sam (once she arrived) and Cassie setting the cloths and decorations on the buffet tables ready for the caterers, and Jack sat back and watched the antics, David, Jacob and Jon were funny and silly and typical boys, they wound Cassie and Sam up and made sure they stayed away from Vala. Jack was actually getting fond of them.

They finished setting up the hall at 2100 and decided to all go to O'Malleys they were locking up the hall when a horn sounded and a coach pulled in, Before it had come to a full stop Grace jumped out and ran towards her son, he grabbed her and swung her around, he put her on the ground and turned to introduce her to everyone when she saw Jack.

"Jonathan!" she said and she wasn't looking at Davids cousin

"Gracie" Jack nodded, she held out her arms and he hugged her, he had forgotten how small she was, she was almost a full foot shorter than him.

"Dads here" she said in a low voice

"I know" he said and looked up to see him walking off the bus.

A very old man staggered off the bus and it was apparent that the only reason he was standing was because he was leaning on the vehicle. He was obviously drunk. He looked at Jack and said

"What the hell are you doing here, you bastard?"

**OoΩoO**


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

"Dad please." Grace pleaded.

"Who invited HIM?" he asked pointing at Jack

Everyone was watching them, David looking between his grandfather, his mother and Jack trying to find out what was happening.

"Mom?" he said, Cassie and Sam moved up and both attached themselves to one of Jacks arms.

"Jack?" Sam said

"Get him out of here" the old man shouted at his daughter

"I am not going anywhere" Jack said calmly

"General O'Neill?" a party of SFs pulled up outside the hall, they had directed the coach from the gates and when they heard the shouting and decided to investigate, but they were not going to go barrelling into an argument involving Jack.

"It's OK" Jack told them, they stepped back but didn't leave.

"HA! General O'Neill?" They could see the staggering man turning purple with rage. "Grace, get rid of him!" the other adult members of the family were getting off the bus, trying to see what was happening, the older set all seemed to line up in front of the younger ones. Shielding them from the action.

"Peter, Hope, Luke" Jack said nodding to each in turn

"Jesus Jonathan haven't seen you in years" Peter said "how come you're here?"

"Cassie is my…niece" he said

"Daughter" she supplied for him and he smiled down at her

"Daughter" he agreed

"Oh shit" Luke said

"No kidding" Jack agreed, SG1 and everyone under 40 looked puzzled.

"No grandson of mine is going to marry a daughter of HIS… It ain't allowed!" the nasty old man snapped

"Shut it" Jack snapped back and he turned to the young couple "get out of here, this will probably turn nasty"

"Do what your Uncle Jonathan says" Grace told her son, he looked up sharply and Jack nodded.

"I'll come by in the morning and explain" he said and ushered them away. Jacob and Jon left with them. Most of the family boarded the coach again on Graces instructions and they drove away to the motel they had booked out. The old man could hardly stand and Grace moved to support him, but he pushed her away, Jack took a step forward but she raised her hand and stopped him.

"Now you've lost your audience are you going to sober up?" Jack asked, sneering.

"I want nothing to do with you" and he spit on the ground at Jacks feet.

"The feeling is mutual, I can assure you" Jack said swinging back to the rest.

"So you made General?" Peter asked "Mom would have been proud" he grinned

More spittle hit the ground closer to Jacks feet this time.

"Yeah she would" Jack agreed softly

"But why O'Neill?" he asked

"You think I want to be named after HIM?" he asked and pointed at the old man

"He is your father Jonathan" Grace said, he heard Sam gasp and Daniel walked a full pace forward.

"Yeah well not if either of us has anything to say on it" Jack said. "Look I got some business to tell you all about, can we meet here tomorrow morning? Say 0900? Leave HIM behind though." His sisters and brothers nodded.

"And bring everyone who is in the service, or over 18, I may as well give you all these" he drew a pile of official orders out of the bag on his shoulder, he was glad he had brought them and not waited until the party, it was better if he could get this out of the way and not spoil Cassies day any more than his father was going to.

"Hey one of these is for me" Michael said

"Yeah" Jack said "Sorry Michael, I have my orders from the Joint Chiefs, I may have to call you back up out of retirement" he said. "Oh and you have David, Jacob and Jons papers there too, I lumped 'em all together, I'll pick 'em up on my way" He looked around "Is anyone not going to be here? Anyone deployed and I haven't heard?"

"No Jon" Grace said "The only ones who couldn't make it were Mike junior and Adam and they got last minute permission" she looked up at her brother "you?" she asked and he nodded, there were advantages to being a General even if he wasn't in the same service.

Jack turned to the patrol. "Can you lot manage to get some cars here and get these people to their motel?" Jack asked

"Sir, Yes Sir" the patrol leader said and went to the jeep to call up more cars.

"It isn't far but you may as well ride" Jack told his family. "I'll see you in the morning"

He turned to his team, old and new "I guess I better tell you lot first" he said

"I thought my father was bad!" Vala said, Cam elbowed her to be quiet and decided that maybe they would be better elsewhere so he grabbed her arm and excused them both and drove her back to the base. He knew enough to know that they weren't really included in Jacks invitation, and he didn't take offence.

Daniel Teal'c and Sam all piled into the truck and Jack drove back to his home.

**OoΩoO**

"So… you just met my dad and family" he told them scrubbing his face with his hands "as you can guess we don't get on"

"Grace seemed to be OK"

"The kids are all OK, well sort of, they are just still terrified of the bastard" he said "none of them have the guts to stand up to him even though he's pushing 80 now"

"So… what about tomorrow" Daniel asked, the last thing any of them wanted was Cassies day spoiled

"With luck someone will show him a bottle early on and he won't turn up, but if he does I want you to be ready, he's a nasty piece of work and just cos he's old doesn't mean he will be any better."

"Yeah we noticed that" Sam said

"T, I want you to look after Sam and Cassie if he turns up" Teal'c accepted the duty with his usual nod. Jack knew his father used to delight in hitting women and if he thought they meant something to Jack he would do it even more, though Carter could kick his arse for him, Cassie was another thing altogether.

That was about all that Jack was willing to share, so they ordered a Chinese and afterwards settled down around the house, Sam and him in their room, Teal'c on the pull out in Cassies and Daniel in the room they would shortly be turning into the nursery.

**OoΩoO**

Sam tried to get him to talk more once she had him alone, but as usual he found he just could not say what was on his mind, every time he thought about _him_ his blood started to boil. How he had held it together earlier he had no idea, but he had been close to hitting him, and Jack knew if he started he wouldn't stop until the old man was dead!

He had a nightmare that night that he had not had for years! Sam didn't understand when Jack cried out for Mark, but Jack knew what he had been dreaming about, as soon as he woke and she asked who Mark was.

The memory of it all came crashing back and Jack remembered every detail of the day, he shook from the power of it and held her close until she soothed it away. He grabbed her tight, and as an affirmation of life he felt the need to be closer to her…they made love, frantically at first, calming and loving at the end. She held him afterwards as he wept, until he slept once more.

**OoΩoO**


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

Jack and Sam got to the Academy hall at precisely 0855, Sam had insisted he wear his full uniform as it was an official meeting and she did the same. She called Cassie as they were leaving and told her to make her way to the hall with David and Jacob. They were surprised to see a whole detachment of SFs surrounding the place, when he asked for the OIC he was directed to a Master Sergeant.

"What's all this in aid of?" he asked waving his arm.

"Orders sir, we were told a top level security meeting was going to take place and we had to secure the premises"

Jack could smell Maynard all the way from DC! How the hell did he know Jack had moved the planned meeting forward 24 hours? However there was no point arguing with the NCO, the man had his orders, Jack asked if anyone had arrived but evidently the SFs weren't allowing them in until Jack got there. He could see Cassie and David, and Jacob were stood over by the dorms, he waved them across and asked for Cpt. Jon Cohen to be brought in from Peterson. It turned out he was already with everyone else down by the gate, so on Jack asking the Sergeant radioed that the rest of the family could be brought up and they were escorted in.

Jack sat at the end of the hall, Sam slightly to one side and she moved her chair back so she was behind as well. The SFs had set up chairs in rows in front of him, and he placed his bag with the scanner in the small room at the back, with a full security detachment guarding it.

"OK" Jack said once everyone was seated. He counted twenty three people facing him, not including the SFs. "There are a few of you here who don't technically belong, but as I'm the one who gives out security clearance I decide who can be here," he looked at the Sergeant who nodded.

"For those of you who don't know me… though I'm sure Gracie and the rest filled you in after they got to the motel last night… and to the few who think you do…I'm Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, and I am based at the Pentagon at the moment. I answer to the Joint Chiefs and the President alone," there was no need to bring up the IOA. "I know you are all here to celebrate David and Cassie getting engaged but there is a reason why all of you in the forces suddenly got permission for leave after you had been turned down, or been allowed out of West Point," he nodded to two young looking boys that he knew weren't in the AF academy.

"The Air Force has authorised me to test each and every one of you with some new technology, the reason why you have been chosen is because of a …" he paused, he knew how much he was allowed to tell them, and it wasn't enough, these were his family and though he didn't know most of them he doubted that any of them were particularly stupid!

Sam stepped up "If I may Sir?" she asked and he nodded and waved her forwards. She introduced herself and then launched into her explanation.

"The Air Force have managed to develop some technology that will help the services a lot, however as a security measure, the people who developed the tech keyed it into a certain genetic anomaly so if it fell into the 'wrong hands' it could not be used, General O'Neill is the only high level officer who has the ability to use the technology and so his family… yourselves… are to be tested." Jack nodded his thanks and she sat back down.

"Now certain amongst you don't need to be tested unless you want to be" Jack said "However everyone in service have received orders that means you are all seconded to me until such time as I release you and you ALL have to be tested."

"Jon… Jack, sorry" Grace said "What do you mean tested? What does it involve? Will it hurt?"

"No Gracie nothing like that, basically you just have to touch the tech and see if it works" he smiled. "There's no danger, and definitely not pain, don't worry"

He moved to the back room and took out the scanner, the security squad moved to flank him until he waved them back. He held up his hand and showed everyone the pad.

"So… oldest first or youngest?" he asked several of them rose and came forward, Jack backed off a little. "Oldest I think…" he thought and then said "Michael, I don't think this will work for you, but there's a chance as you are still of good Celtic stock" Jack grinned.

He held up the pad as his brother-in-law came forward, he showed him what the display showed for him, the SFs, the family and two red dots, one inside the building and one outside. And some details scrolling across the screen.

Then he handed it over, to Jack and Sams surprise the pad showed lights, they were not as detailed as they were for Jack, and they were all the same colour, but he definitely could activate the tech, Sam smiled at him and wrote his name and a number 1-2 on her pad.

Grace stood forward next and she picked up the pad, Sam looked over her shoulder, and gave her a 2 as the tech activated instantly while she was looking around at everyone else.

The rest of the family came up one by one, none of the other spouses could activate the pad, but each of Grace and Michaels children had a level 3 or, more excitingly a 4

Peter and Hope and their children all scored 2 except for Jacob, the air force cadet who scored a 3, Luke scored a 3 but his children were all too young to attend the meeting, he had started his family late and his eldest was only 14 as yet.

"So" David said "Are you going to tell us what it is that that shows sir?" Jack shook his head

"Need to know son" he said "You will definitely be getting some extra training in this type of equipment soon, but until then you don't need to know."

He picked up Sams sheet of paper "could you all sort yourselves out a bit… Michael you, Lucy, Christine and Matthew, could you sit over there" he pointed over to the far wall.

"Luke, Jacob, Jane, June, Philip, Matt, David and Mike over here" he pointed to the nearer wall and front

"Rachael, you are the only one of the level 3s not in the forces so you can go sit with your dad and mom, Grace, yes you can move over there love, you too Hope" neither of his sisters was in the forces so he could move them to the side with the people without the gene and Michael.

"Everyone else is a 2" Jack said "which means you will definitely get more training and may be reassigned to us eventually, except Peter, Pete and Jon, I'll have you three now as well as you are already in the AF, you lot with the 3 or 4, consider yourselves reassed immediately. You will all report for duty on Monday at Cheyenne Mountain. Your COs will be notified before the end of the day and you can all arrange for your quarters to be emptied and goods forwarded by the back end of the week."

Cassie stood up "Uncle Jack may I try?" she asked he handed her the scanner but it didn't activate, she pouted and sat back down.

"Oh that's a point, David, Mike, Jacob, I know you are still in the Academy but you two in here will be fine, Mike, I'll just be a minute, hold on" he picked his phone out of his pocket.

He pressed 5 on speed dial and when his aide answered he spoke "Juan what the hell are you doing there on a Saturday morning?" Juan was almost as bad as Carter for working over, with a little Walter thrown in!! "Never mind… look get Maynard on the phone… yeah now." He looked at the ceiling as he waited, all the service people in the room all knew who he was talking about, after all he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"Maynard," he said, just to piss the man off "got a strong AG here" he hoped that he would realise what he was talking about, which he did, "actually I have quite a few 4s if you can believe it, 3s and 2s but one of the 4s is at West Point" he looked at Mike … "How long you got to go before you finish son?" he asked the youngster

"2 years Sir!" he said

"He's still got 2 years to go" he again looked at the young man, he had an idea "Willing to cross-commission or a cadet equivalent?" he asked and the young man considered it for a few minutes and then nodded. "he's willing to shift to us" he told the CJoS "can I get him straight in here with all his credits?" received a positive answer and smiled.

Since before Jack joined up as long as you graduated from the academy and met the other service requirements officers were allowed to cross commission, in other words they could attend West Point but then become an Air Force officer, or even a Marine if they were mad. However that was on graduation, once they received their officer status. What Jack was asking for had never been done before, but of course he knew that it was a unique situation as they needed every Ancient they could get!

"Thanks sir" he said to the man on the other end of the phone, "3-4s, 5-3s, 5-2s, one of which is another Army cadet… hold on sir"

"Adam" he said looking around, the young man took a pace forwards "The Chair wants to know if you are willing to move as well?" he could see the young man wanted to say no… but every fibre of his being was reluctant to turn down a General, especially when the one on the other end of the phone was an Army General, a 4 star Army General at that!

"No sir, he wants to stay at West Point" Jack said not waiting for verbal confirmation, it didn't really matter, they could catch up with him once he graduated and train him if they still needed him, he was the youngest serviceman there, he was the youngest there actually! "Actually sir, while I have you on the line, I've decided that it would be in the best interests of the programme if I move here to work…" he had decided once he realised he could make teaching ancient tech to the family a major part of his job, after all he could still read and speak ancient, as well as use the equipment. He wandered towards the back of the hall, waving the SFs away so he could speak in relative privacy, after all, he thought, it could get nasty.

Maynard was spluttering on the other end of the phone, things like 'The IOA is based in DC' and others about international meetings being easier at the capital "Look, the IOA can come visit me whenever they want to see me, I can visit them, but I need to be here until all these folk are trained, not counting all the others we will find when we test, and I want to be here for my wife! I'm tired of living out of a suitcase" He heard him beginning to draw a breath, and he jumped again "2 choices, I move here or I quit…"

"Quit?" the man at the other end of the line sounded like he was choking.

"Yes goddam it QUIT! Put President Hayes on the phone, I know he's there!" he snapped, he really, really had had enough, and he still had this evening and the party to deal with, the president came on the line.

"Look sir, I've had it, either I transfer here or I'm gone"

"Jack I aren't going to allow you to retire" the president said, he was laughing softly, did the man think everything was a joke?

"Then I quit" Jack said, his voice cold and deadly serious.

**OoΩoO**


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

He heard the man laugh again until something was said in the office behind him. "Hold on Jack" the big man said and Jack could hear a muffled conversation.

"Tell you what, why don't we work something out" the President came back, a tad more diplomatic

"Not goin' to happen" Jack threw his own words back at him. He heard mumbling again, the President evidently had a room full, Jack could have sworn he heard the Texan twang of George Hammond, but he was retired wasn't he?

"Ok Jack, you win, you can be based out of Cheyenne, but you better be available to travel when needed" Hayes said, Jack smiled.

"Of course sir, anything you say" he could afford to be gracious; after all he had just blackmailed the leader of the free world and got away with it!

"My regards to Colonel Carter" Hayes said as a signing off and Jack wished him a good day and put the phone down.

"YES!" he said under his breath but with passion, Sam looked at him and he smiled and nodded, thank God it had worked!

He suddenly realised that the whole room had just heard him arguing with the President and he blushed slightly and coughed, not the best thing to do in front of recruits and service men and women who were going to be under his command!

He turned back and faced them "Ok so, Mike will transfer here, you three cadets will be here most of the time, but up at the mountain at short notice, I'll have a word with the proper people about it. Michael, I am not going to call you back to active duty, not yet at any rate, Adam, you continue at West Point, but you may receive training and when you graduate you will probably be posted here on secondment, well, by here I mean up the mountain. The rest of you have your orders, and we've been here long enough so go back to the kids, or go enjoy yourselves and we'll see you here for the party."

He nodded to the SFs and they all filed out.

Jacks siblings and their spouses stayed behind, except Christine, Lukes wife, their children were still very young and she wanted to get back to them. The younger, family members left, except Cassie and David, Jon and Jacob hovered outside the doors for a while and then decided to leave and catch up with the others of the family their ages.

"Jon… Jack, sorry can't get used to calling you that" Grace said "I left dad looking after the kids, but you know he will start on you tonight don't you?" she lowered her head in shame "He's already tried to call off the whole thing because Cassie is your daughter"

"She isn't really, actually though we have brought her up for the past 3 years she is… was the daughter of my wifes best friend, she was killed in action. Cassie was always close to us both though." He explained, they should have guessed by Cassies last name!

"How is Sarah?" Michael asked. Had it really been that long since they spoke, Jack asked himself. Yeah it had to be, he doubted he had even told any of his family that Charlie had been born, never mind that he had died!

"Sarah and I divorced, almost 12 years ago" Jack told him, that caused a slight ripple, but divorce nowadays was getting more common, even amongst Catholics "I'm married to Sam now" he held his hand out and she moved to take it, that caused even more of a ripple, they had all seen how they acted and it was obvious they worked together, so how could they be married? Jack felt a headache coming on!

**OoΩoO**

"erm so…" Michael said "what is it you actually do…Sam?"

"I work up at Cheyenne Mountain on Deep Space Radar Telemetry" It really didn't sound any more believable now, years after they had first said it. Jack decided he would get some of the office goons to work on a new cover story, it was obvious to anyone who came into contact with Daniel and Teal'c that the cover was just… bad!

"Jack?" Hope looked at him "what do you do then?"

"I was stationed there for eight years before moving to DC, and now I'm going to be back" He changed the subject "I know you lot hate moving, that's why you all live up North, but you may want to consider all moving down here wholesale, even those not in the service, Luke, you are going to be posted here quite some time, and if your kids follow you into the forces they will be too, the average posting here is about 5 years, but Carter and others have been here over 10"

He was trying to be as gentle about it as possible, he knew the women and youngsters had a mutual support thing going up in Minnesota, while family members were deployed or moved stations, the family as a whole stayed put, and though Jack was very reluctant to have his father any nearer, he knew that the job was going to be a lot more long term than they were used to.

"Look folks" he scrubbed his hands over his face "I can't tell you a hell of a lot, but it is really REALLY important to National Security that this happens, and…"

"Jack" Grace said, laying a hand on his arm "we are all service families, we know there are things you can't share with us, if you say it's important, then we accept it" he saw the others all nodding, he sighed with relief.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c was stood by the doors to the building, he had been outside the whole time, as sort of a control for the sensitivity of the detector.

"T?" Jack answered

"You are needed at the base" Jack wondered why they had not called him on his cell, but looking at Teal'c he realised it was an excuse.

"Right, sorry folks, see you all tonight. Carter with me!"

"Sir!" she fell in as usual, they left the hall, Teal'c was waiting in the truck, the engine already running.

"S'up T?" Jack asked and saw his friend incline his head, when he followed the direction he saw his father moving towards them, Jacks knuckles tightened on the wheel… he was so very tempted to run the bastard down! But he shifted the gear stick and turned and left the Academy grounds.

**OoΩoO**

Jack drove up to the SGC, parting with the other two once inside, Sam went to her lab, Teal'c… well he went to wherever he wanted, case of the 1000lb gorilla.

Jack made his way to Hanks office, where he had expected the other man to be absent, he should have known, not only was he there but George Hammond was… for someone supposedly retired the man got around the high level secret places that were closed to almost everyone.

Jack knocked on the open door.

"Jack… what can I do for you?" Landry said

"Need office space, about 4 basic quarters 5 officer quarters, including mine… the cadets will sleep at the academy, a training area and… actually not sure, I'll be having Juan transfer down later in the week, he can sort the rest out"

"Not wanting much then?" Hank laughed, Jack knew they were short of space in the SGC, from the original 9 teams they were up to 25 and the lab rats were always crying out for more places for their experiments, but Jack knew something Hank didn't, NORAD, who occupied the top 11 levels was closing down, the new detection equipment they had inherited from the Asgard had made almost everything up there obsolete, only three shifts of four men were needed to do the job that the three hundred used to do. And they could do it from anywhere in the world. Cheyenne mountain was 'closing down' and it was another reason why they needed a new cover story, why would a closed AF base have so many people in and out at all hours? Not to mention the alerts.

Jack had plans for the top 11 levels, including moving most of the level two scientists up there, the ones working on non military, already proven 'safe' technology, and he hoped his teams of AGs would then have room in the more secure area for their work.

He was also hoping that they could 'borrow' a couple of puddle jumpers, not that he intended to take them out of the mountain or anything… well not much, but hey! What was the point in having stealth tech if you didn't use it?

"So, Jack, feeling a bit better now you are going to be staying here?" George asked

"It was you then? In with the Joint Chiefs and President Hayes?"

"Yes and you want to thank God it was, otherwise you would be looking for a job"

"Wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest… you know that George" he said with a smile.

"And that's the only reason you got away with it! Hayes thought you wouldn't give up your commission and pension, it took both Francis and I to persuade him you would, hell I saw you after Edora, I know you would be happy with only the basics of life, never mind if you had a wife and child to come home to!"

Jack lowered his head at the mention of one of the times he hurt Sam so much he thought she would never forgive him. George was right though, he had thrown himself into the low tech society and had never been as happy except for when Charlie was alive, or since he and Sam had finally got together.

"So… you caught a hop from Daedalus?" he asked, knowing it was the only way the Texan could have travelled so far so quickly.

"Cassie invited me to her shindig" George said shrugging… oh great, all he needed was Hammond there if his father started!

"Carolyn and I will be there too, Walter and Siler have been invited as well" Hank said.

Who had she NOT invited? Though she had seemed to live a normal teenage life with Janet, the fact that her mother spent so much time looking after SG1 and others meant she spent a whole lot of her evenings in the SGC, she had befriended most of the 'old timers' and Jack was sure it was this that had influenced her to join the Academy as soon as she was old enough.

Having a 'parent' who was a Medal of Honour holder meant that she got an automatic entry into the academy, most of the lecturers at the school were people she had known for years, and Sam and Siler were regulars at guest appearances in the lecture hall. And though he always hated the notoriety he had gained, the fuss over his rank and especially over the medals he had been awarded… the Medal of Honour especially caused notice… he was not above helping her along a bit, though once in she had to work just as hard as anyone else, he wouldn't have allowed her to get free passage, luckily Cassie wasn't that type anyway, she enjoyed working, and excelled academically.

The only real problem was if she hurt herself, they had to take her to the SGC or get Carolyn down to see to her, most of her classmates didn't even question it, but Jack knew some whispers had been circulated, and he was careful to keep his finger on the pulse of school rumour, just in case!

**OoΩoO**


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

Sam had laid out their clothes, he had a pair of black tailored trousers, his dress shoes and a black dress shirt, she was wearing a short black dress that glittered as she moved, and he wanted to take off the second she put it on!

She was sat at the dresser applying the subtle touches of make-up she always wore when he walked out of the bathroom, he leaned over and kissed the back of her neck, she shivered.

"Happy anniversary" he said, she turned and lifted her face for a kiss, he kissed her making sure she knew she had been kissed! When he pulled back she followed, trying to keep contact. He grinned down at her. "Not too late to decide to stay in" he said, knowing what her answer would be.

She opened her eyes, he was sorry immediately, he could see she was torn, wanting to allow him to get out of it, because of his father, and not wanting to let down the girl she had always felt a special connection for.

"Jack…"

"Forget it," he said "Cassie deserves a nice night, lets make sure she gets it" he placed his hands on her chest and squeezed gently "but you owe me when we get home" he said

She stood and rubbed along his front, nibbling on his neck until he was groaning "OK" she whispered, her hand moved between them and he grabbed her before she could touch him.

She sat back at the dresser with a grin and he went to his bedside table and opened it grabbing the box that he had hidden there after he knew she had searched already.

He stood behind her and removed the medallion from the box, a Naquadah and Trinium pendant the symbol on it the same as the SGC shoulder patch with AT, the sign for Earths point of origin in the centre in Naquadah and a Trinium outside delicately engraved as the whole ring of the 'gate, every symbol clearly etched, red gold inlaid on the chevrons adding a glow as if they were 'engaged'.

The whole thing was light and delicate, and so it wouldn't look too much on her slender neck the chain was Trinium too, so light and flexible it almost felt like fabric rather than metal.

Jack had found that Siler had more hobbies than motorbike repair and had Daniel and Teal'c collect the metals needed over the last year, the chain had been a particularly difficult undertaking, Siler had rightly been proud of his work and Jack felt deeply in his debt.

The 'kids' had commissioned matching earrings that they were going to present at the party.

She touched the necklace with her fingertips her face lit in the thousand watt smile he loved so much. Then she took it off so she could examine it closely, he hated it when she did things like that, she always wanted to examine and study, take things apart, she couldn't just accept when something was beautiful. She saw his face and smiled up at him, holding it back out so he could refasten it.

She stood and he noticed the chain length was perfect, it sat just under her collar bone and drew eyes. The shiny silver of the Trinium lighting the duller, black Naquadah.

"I don't have your present yet" she said, "it was supposed to arrive this morning but they have had a slight problem" He didn't care, the woman in his arms was enough for him.

"Come on, let's go help Cassie celebrate" he picked up the envelope containing the tickets they had bought the young couple, a fortnight in the Bahamas for later in the year, something Jack thought more suitable than a toaster or any normal engagement present, especially as Cassie was still on campus and David was about to be deployed.

Jack had rented out Janets old house after her death, the money going into trust for Cassie later, he had given the tenants notice to quit last month, having made sure that only service men on short term deployment to Peterson had been eligible to rent, so she could move back in almost as soon as she wished to.

David would need a place to stay now he was on station, and Cassie and he could spend their down time and holidays in their own home.

**OoΩoO**

They arrived at the hall, Teal'c and Daniel were already there, Sam slipped in straight away to check that the caterers and music were set up, then she came out to wait for the guests of honour.

Cassie and David with his cousin Jon were walking across the grass, laughing at something. Behind them Jons brother Jacob was running to catch them up, the young people were all dressed casually, jeans and shirts for the boys, Cassie in a pair of skin tight white short shorts and a gold glittering tank top.

Sam was laughing up at Jacks face, he still could only see her as a child and they had had some blazing rows over the last 3 years about 'suitable' dress, she was finally grown up though and his responsibility was coming to an end, even if he would never feel as if it had.

The extended family was completed when George Hammond and his family arrived, the Wilbys had been around for Cassie at those times when Sam and Jack had been out of touch, and 'Grandpa' George held a special place in Cassies heart.

The party moved indoors, the couple standing close to the entry so they could greet the rest of the guests, David would have a hell of a lot of introductions to perform, but already lots of their class members were arriving, after all they didn't have far to travel!

Cassie was soon surrounded by girls her own age, everyone wishing to see the ring, a classic solitaire diamond that glittered on her finger.

Lots of giggles ensued and Jack took it that some of the talk was probably naughty in the extreme, knowing male recruits he hoped that the females would be slightly less crude!

Then the family arrived, Cassie was introduced to all she had not already met, and what a hell of a lot there were, there were thirty members altogether, ranging from Graham, Lukes youngest through to Jacks father Jon, there was even Leah, the first of the next generation, who was seven now, though there was no sign of Rachaels husband, and no one mentioned one.

Last through the door was Jacks father, he strode straight into the hall without pausing to shake Davids hand or be introduced to Cassie, Grace had moved up and put a comforting hand on the pairs shoulders as she watched her father enter, Cassie shrugged it off but David looked upset. Jack felt his anger grow.

The old man made his way over to the table that was serving drinks, Jack had already had words with the barman, Paul, and confirmed his order with a nod of his head when he saw him look over. He was the same barman who had been on duty that day at O'Malleys when the team wearing the Atonikes armbands threw half a dozen heavies about as if they were rag dolls, and so he was wary of what could happen if he didn't do as he was told.

He was firm but polite, refusing to serve anything alcoholic, Jons voice rose above the music, loud and demanding, but Paul held firm. Peter, Hope and Luke moved up to try to calm the situation but the old man pushed them aside and made his way straight to where he thought the blame lay.

"I take it they are acting under your orders… General" he sneered, Jack nodded, the old man tried to crowd into his personal space, a tactic that Jack had seen him use to good effect in his youth, but even though he was still well built Jack was not intimidated in the least. Hope was trying to pull her father away, but he roughly shook her off and glared at her.

"You are NOT going to get drunk and spoil Cassies party" he told his father, the old man tried to lean once more and at last Jack moved, he grabbed him by the arm and held tightly until he saw pain flash across the other mans face, he leant down and spoke directly into his ear "Don't try it, I still remember what happened with Mark, and now I could do something about it and not leave a trace… Don't push me old man" Jack noticed his sister from the corner of his eye and her reaction to the mention of Mark… he closed his eyes, wishing she had not been close enough to hear, but it was too late now.

Shock flashed in his fathers eyes, Jack had often stood firm when his father tried to bully him, but because his mother would suffer he had never threatened retaliation before, the old man had thought him a coward. Now she was dead, and the fact that the nasty old man was still bullying his children, all of whom were fully grown, showed Jack that no one had as yet stood up to him. Jack wondered why Michael and Matthew, his sisters husbands, had allowed it to continue, but he knew the answer, because their wives asked them not to sort it out, they were both too soft for their own good!

Jack let go of his arm and the old man fell into one of the chairs around the outside of the room. "Stay there!" Jack said and waved Teal'c over. "T' do me a favour and keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't make a scene please" the Jaffa nodded his head regally.

However Jack wasn't quite across the room before he heard shouting, and retracing his steps he heard his father having a go at his friend. "Get out of my way Nigger!" he shouted, trying to push his way past, Teal'c of course acted like the legendary immovable object and refused to budge, he didn't understand the derogatory term, though he could tell it was an insult.

"Granddad!" David said, shocked "You can't use words like that!"

"I can use any words I damn well please" the old man said "Get me a drink!" the youngster turned to do as he was told but Jack wasn't having it. He looked around for Grace and when he found her he went and told her what was happening, he asked for the motel key and grabbed his father by the arm and dragged him from the building. Outside he bundled him into the truck and drove to the motel, letting the old man into the room he retrieved a couple of bottles of scotch from the back seat that he had brought just in case, and he threw them on the bed.

"Don't come back!" Jack said, he locked the door behind him and went back to the party.

**OoΩoO**


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

By the time Jack got back the whole mood of the room had changed, laughter and smiles were everywhere and Sam rushed over to show off her new earrings as soon as he made an appearance. Cassie and David were dancing in the centre of the room, oblivious to everything around them.

The SGC members sat in clumps, reminiscing as much as they were able to with civvies around, telling tales about bets laid and jokes played on people, the time Silers wrench was tied to the top of the gate by the SF who had had his foot broken when Siler dropped it, was a favourite, especially as Siler had fallen and broken his arm trying to retrieve it before a scheduled check in by SG5 disintegrated it.

George Hammond and Hank Landry were telling stories about their time in 'Nam, boring Carolyn to death! Georges daughter and grand daughters were dancing in a circle with the three youngest of Lukes children, Leah, Rachaels daughter was joining in and then wandering off, and joining in again, her mother keeping an eye on her that suggested she was always getting into trouble, or always bored.

The female cadets were eyeing up the available family members, of which there were several, Sam commenting that each of the lads was good looking, reminding her in some way of Jacks clone, which wasn't really too surprising.

Everything was going great until Sam came back from using the ladies and made her way to Jack.

"Jack… Your dad is out the back of the building" she told him, he wished to god he had been able to lock the bastard in the room properly! Jack noticed her arm, she had a red mark on it, as if someone had grabbed her, he ran a finger gently over the mark.

"He did this?" he asked, she bit her bottom lip, it was answer enough. Jack strode from the room intent on finding him and giving him some of his own medicine, Sam rushed after him and seeing him leave Teal'c and Daniel followed, of course when they left George, Hank, Cam and Vala noticed and also trailed after.

Once outside they saw the old man slumped against the wall by the fire exit from the corridor with the toilets on, evidently Sam had not passively allowed him to grapple her and she had hit him where it hurts most, Jack stood and laughed at the pathetic figure.

Grace and Michael came out and saw Jons condition, and between them they got him to his feet, Jack stood in front of them.

"Touch anyone…ANYONE again, and what Sam did to you will feel like a paper cut." He turned to his sister "Get him out and keep him out this time Grace" he said "If he comes back I'll have him arrested for assault"

"You can't prove that!" Jon said "She attacked me!"

"Idiot." Jack spat "Remember you're on a base, there are cameras everywhere, want to claim that in court?" Jon lowered his head and Jack stood back while they carried him between them. He shouldn't have given him the whisky, he had thought that the old man would drink it and pass out, evidently his tolerance was a lot higher than Jack had thought, with any luck he would get cirrhosis and die.

Everyone once more returned to the party but Jack couldn't relax, he stood by the doors watching in case he came back, and no matter how much Sam tried to persuade him to dance with her he couldn't, Cassie didn't deserve her party ruined, and he was determined to make sure it wasn't.

David came and asked after his parents, Jack explained what had happened.

"He isn't always like this" the young man said, Jack didn't want to hear. "It's just, sometimes he…" he faded off

"David, look, I know what he is, and what he is capable of, don't waste your breath trying to defend him, because you can't" the young man sighed, Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "go find that beauty you just got engaged to, forget everyone else" he said the smile on his nephews face persuaded him that he would do just that and Jack went back to his vigil.

**OoΩoO**

The evening finished on a happy note, the cadets all stumbling about happily, not a single fight, which was a small miracle in itself.

Cassie was carried off by her dorm mates for a 'heart to heart' and the older SGC personnel cleaned the hall and surroundings up before leaving.

Jack and Sam made it home by 0200 and fell straight into bed, he was surprised at Sam, usually she would have been hyped up after a night like this, but she was asleep within seconds of hitting the mattress. They were woken by the doorbell at 0900 and Jack swore as he stumbled out from between the sheets.

"Jack…" Daniel was on the doorstep, looking slightly hung over "Grace contacted David, who told Cassie who…"

"Daniel!" Jack snapped

"Your dad… he's missing"

"Missing?" Jack asked, Daniel nodded "Hope he's dead" he said and closed the door in his friends face, Daniel pounded on the wood. Jack opened it again.

"They're arranging a search" he said

"And?" Jack asked

"Well, I know you don't get on, but he is your father" Daniel squinted in the bright morning light.

"Daniel!" Jack growled a warning

"I thought you may want to join in!" he cajoled

"Nope" Jack said "now if you don't mind, I had a late night, so I'm off back to bed" and he shut the door once more. He half expected Daniel to knock or ring again and was pleasantly surprised to hear an engine start and fade away, he made his way back to his bed.

"Who was that?" she asked sleepily, as he climbed under the covers.

"Just Daniel" he told her "go back to sleep" and he cuddled up to her back and followed his own advice.

**OoΩoO**

They rose at 1100 and had a leisurely breakfast, Jack didn't mention the earlier visit and luckily Sam was used to Daniel turning up at odd hours for odd reasons and so she never mentioned it either.

She got her laptop out and started a report on a piece of Asgard technology she had been working with, though she seemed distracted, glancing out of the window frequently, Jack sat on the living room sofa flicking channels on the TV.

A knock came at the door and Jack rose to his feet and went to see who it was.

There was a man in a dirty, grease covered overall stood on the step, a clipboard in his hand. A low load wagon stood on the roadside and there was a vehicle under a tarp!

"O'Neill?" he said, not even looking up

"Yeah" Jack answered

"Sign 'ere please" he thrust the clipboard forwards, Jack caught it just before it hit his stomach.

"What for?" he asked, Sam came bounding out of the house, grabbing Jacks arm as she passed him. She dragged him over to the wagon and jumped onto the bed, she started undoing the ropes that held the tarp.

"You gonna sign that?" the man asked, Jack looked down at it, he may as well, it was obvious Sam was expecting whatever it was.

"I know you don't like low cars Jack…" she said "but I'm hoping you change your mind" she pulled off the cover and a perfect condition, mint looking, bright red 1966 corvette appeared! He was in love!

**OoΩoO**

He jumped in the car the second all four wheels hit the tarmac, he didn't know how she knew, he had always wanted one of these! He ran his hands over the leather upholstery and looked around inside, if he didn't know better he would have sworn it had just rolled out of the factory.

"Siler and I have been restoring it for the last few months" she told him. "We sent it for spraying last week, it was supposed to be here yesterday…" she was babbling, she always did when she was nervous.

He jumped out of the car and grabbed her, he swung her around and kissed her firmly. "How the hell did you know?" he asked "I mean after all the times I complained about low cars…" he gestured to the 'vette

"You told me" she smiled, he didn't remember ever telling her! "in 1969… remember?" she said in a low voice, he thought back to '69… Oh no she meant 1969! When the flare had kicked them back, he had mentioned his hatred of the latest 'vette when it passed them as they tried to hitch a ride.

"You know if Siler ever really hurts himself badly we will be stuck for getting each other presents!" Jack told her, he lowered the roof and clipped it down. She slid into the passenger seat, showing a hell of a lot of leg while she was getting there.

He rushed and closed the house door and jumped back into the drivers seat, the engine roared into life… he pulled a U and they headed out to the country roads south of town on the way to the mountain.

"I know it isn't a Sunbeam Alpha but if you don't slow down we could end up like Grace Kelly" Sam said as he took a sharp bend much too fast. He eased off the gas until a more sensible speed for the road was reached, but hell, he had seen her on her bike, she had no need to blame him for being a speed freak!

They pulled into the lower car park of the Cheyenne Mountain complex and walked over to the wonderful view. They sat together, as they had several times in the past few years, drinking in the natural beauty of Earth.

"I'm so glad you managed to persuade the president to let you move back here" she said, he squeezed her waist. She lay her head against his shoulder, as she had several times in the past when she was tired. It made him think of her being ill, and he got an uneasy feeling.

"By the way, what did Carolyn have to say yesterday?" he asked, all he had got the day before was that everything was 'fine', and then Cassie had jumped on her.

"She can't tell for sure without an amniocentesis but she thinks the baby may inherit the Naquadah, the levels in my blood stream have dropped over the past month, well since she started testing anyway." Sam said, he felt she wasn't saying everything, so he pushed her slightly.

"You don't need an amnio do you?" he knew there were inherent dangers in the process, Sam squeezed his arm in reassurance

"Not unless something goes wrong" she told him, "everything looks fine, don't worry"

"Are we going to find out the sex of the baby soon?" he asked

"Do you want to know?" she sounded surprised.

"Well, no, not if you don't… I mean…" she grinned at him and leaned more into his hold.

"I'll ask when I next see her" she said

"That will be tomorrow won't it?" he didn't want to sound TOO eager.

"I mean the next time I see her for a scan, I'm not sure at what stage they can tell, and don't forget the scans can be wrong too"

"Yeah I never did get that" he said "I mean either the baby has a… erm…a" he coughed into his hand "or she doesn't" he said. Sam laughed out loud.

"Oh Jack… I do love you" she said, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which turned into a peck on the lips which turned into… well she never did get around to answering him as to why the scan could be wrong, he made sure she was too busy for a while to even think about it!

**OoΩoO**


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

Cassie phoned late in the afternoon to say that Jon snr had returned, having spent every cent he had on cheap booze and passing out in the park, Jack cared as much as he had earlier, though Sam was slightly upset that he had not told her the situation.

He asked his daughter and David to come around to the house, and spent a while figuring out what to say to the young couple.

They arrived, Cousin Jon driving them as usual, Jack hated to do it but he asked if Jon would leave. The young man shrugged to show he wasn't upset and drove off with a 'call for a lift home' floating in the air.

Jack sat them down and got them both a beer, Sam sat on the sofa already had a diet soda in her hands.

"The reason you are here" Jack started "is so that we, and Cassie, can give you a bit more of her background than you already have." Cassie looked at him surprised, she had asked permission before she had accepted the ring, to be told that she could not tell him. "She wanted to tell you before, but I wouldn't let her, now you need to know" he said. Because Jack knew that David, who had tested as a 4, would soon learn a lot more about the life signs scanner and be able to work out that there had been an 'alien' in the centre of the hall, and as everyone else was related to him… well he wasn't stupid.

Sam decided to start off, she explained to David about the 'gate, and the work they did, all things he would have learnt on Monday morning anyway, and then she explained about what happened to Cassies planet. Cassie spent the whole time staring at the floor, unable to look at her fiancé in case he couldn't cope with the news or the secrets. Jack couldn't blame her for her doubts, hell his had been as bad when he asked Sam to marry him and HE hadn't been keeping the huge secret that he was not totally human!

However David spent a while absorbing the story, and then he turned around and said "Cool!" grabbing Cassie and pulling her into a hug. "Does this mean you have super powers?" he asked her grinning "leap tall buildings, press diamonds out of coal?"

She smiled back at him and hit him on the arm. "'fraid not" she said "Nirrti saw to it, I'm just ordinary, just like you" she said

"Never ordinary" he kissed her gently and she blushed, Jack inclined his head and Sam and he retreated to the kitchen.

"Think they are going to be OK?" Jack asked.

"He reminds me a lot of you… and you would be OK with it" she said, he nodded, hoping that his prior reluctance to allow her to tell him would not harm them both now.

However he had taken the blame, David would understand the need for secrecy, and it would also mean if he caught Cassie wandering around the SGC or in the infirmary he would not get suddenly curious. Accidental discovery was never the way to go in these cases.

They ordered in a Chinese before Jack ran them back to the academy, David had a week left before he would be a full graduate and commissioned officer, and he had orders to turn up at Cheyenne the next morning, with Jacob and Mike. Jack knew that this last week was 'fun' all the pressure of the exams and assignments over so he didn't want to spoil it for the lad. He planned to allow him to stay away until the week after, except for the introduction.

Jack was surprised to find Sam already asleep by the time he returned, he slipped into bed quietly and pulled her to his embrace… he was so glad he had managed to persuade the powers to allow him to stay with her, he never slept alone as well as he did when cuddled up to her warm body.

**OoΩoO**

Monday morning arrived and they both headed up the mountain, work as usual for Sam and Jacks new position!

He stood by the security gates on the main road as the family members arrived, the security badges not having arrived as yet. Once all eleven members were gathered, Jack having arranged for the cadets to attend as well, he led them in through the various checks and elevators until they were at level 23. He was about to excuse himself when Walter arrived with a trolley, containing BDUs and name patches for everyone, Jacks old quarters were now occupied by Hank and he had been assigned a VIP suite, the rooms for Luke, Peter, Pete and June were the bog standard officer quarters and the others were going to have to put up with really basic shared rooms, at least until NORAD finally closed at the end of the month, though Jack had plans in that direction too.

The 2 huge empty storage areas on the level had both been set aside for his group, and room had been made in the training facility on the surface for them to train as all members of SG units had to.

"Ok folks, first things first, this is NOT anything to do with deep space telemetry" he grinned at the fact that no one looked surprised, "The thing that may shock you is what we DO do here, and that is… we travel to other planets"

Titters went around the room, and Jack waited until they stopped. Teal'c stepped forward, the gold emblem on his forehead seemed to glitter. The calm and solid look he gave everyone calmed the room down.

Jack gave them the background of the SGC. From the dig at Giza right up to the ex-Ori problem, and the Wraith. Teal'c gave them a background on the Goa'uld, who were still about even though their major power was gone

Then he showed them some videos Daniel had taken of Atlantis, when he had been looking for Merlins weapon.

They broke for lunch after that and once everyone had finished Jack looked at his watch and then took them all to the 'gate room. SG1, or at least the other three original members, were already fully equipped and waiting when the new recruits arrived.

"Dial it up!" he said looking up at Walter, sat in his usual position overlooking the room, Walter did his usual thing and Jack stood with his back to the 'gate, watching his family as the 'kawoosh' made them all step back, he smiled and gestured to them all. Teal'c, Daniel and Sam walked up the ramp and through the event horizon, "Go on" he told them.

As could be expected they stood looking at him, trying to see if he was joking or not, but he was serious, the three cadets and Jon were the first to move up, and then the others followed. Jack made sure they were all through before stepping through himself.

He felt the usual rush as the wormhole drew him hundreds of light years distance to the new Alpha site, where the young O'Neill clone had already arrived, carrying several AG activated items as well as a puddle jumper.

"Hey old man" O'Neill jnr said, Jack grinned at him, the days of him being irritated by the youth well past.

"Hey kid" he said, ruffling the youths ever untidy hair, he turned to the others who were all waiting, June and Jacob, he noticed still looked slightly green from their trip. Luke and Peter were looking at the young man astonished, Jack understood why.

"I'd like you all to meet…" he gestured to the youth and they simultaneously said "… me" and they both laughed at the puzzled expressions.

"We used to have some allies, Asgard they were called" Jack paused, it still hurt him to think that Thor was no longer alive. "They had a problem with their genetics and thought the Ancient gene would help, so they cloned me… hence Colonel Jon O'Neill here"

The brass had decided to commission the youth, on his past experiences, even though the body he was in was not the one that had gone through it all. After Sam had returned from her stint in Atlantis Jon had been given command, Sheppard having turned it down. Jack introduced the people that the youth had never seen and their AG level.

"How many of these can I have?" Jon asked.

"None as yet… but as soon as the training is done you can have as many as are willing to come to you" Jack knew that the 'Lanteans were getting desperate for gene holders, they had counted so much on the therapy providing people to work the systems.

"Sure… just try and hurry it up will ya old man?" the youth asked causing a couple of gasps from family members and Alpha site personnel, the fact that the young man was being disrespectful to a three star General was almost as much of a shock as the fact that someone only just old enough to be at the academy was a full bird Colonel.

Being the CO of Atlantis meant that not a single person under his command was younger than him… and that included the family members who would eventually be assigned to him.

Both versions of Jack caught the looks directed at the youth by Luke and Peter. Jane seemed to accept him on face value… but it was obvious he was going to have to work to get respect out of these people… something he was used to having had to take command of the Pegasus outpost.

Jon took his namesake and the other younger family members into the puddle jumper he had brought, while Jack stayed outside with the older ones.

"Luke, Peter, I know you two will have the most trouble with Jon… but you have to remember he's ME… he remembers everything that I do about growing up… and that includes the beating we got from Dad because SOMEONE dropped his bottle of whisky" he looked pointedly at Luke, who had been responsible. "Just remember, he has as much experience as I do, even though he is in such a young body"

He turned to the bag of artefacts that Jon had brought out of the ship, Daniel and Sam explained what each could do, the family members were all quick studies and by the time Jon had finished with the younger AGs they had grasped the basics of the tech they had got… the two parties swapped leaders and Jon took his 'brothers' and 2 nieces and nephews into the craft… Jack moved nearer the rear of the craft just in case there was a problem.

**OoΩoO**


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

He handed over to Sam and Daniel the job of showing off the tech while he listened in to the instructions from inside the craft.

"So, the operating system is intuitive, it will literally read your mind and provide you with what you need, so I think… weapons" the weapon pods appeared at the side of the craft and the targeting scanner HUD superimposed on the windscreen, Jon directed it to target the gate, but not to fire, and they all saw the tactical display and readouts.

"Jane, you're a 4, so you can do the same as I can… just sit here" he got out of the left hand seat and Jane slipped in "OK, think of life support," the HUD changed to display the atmospheric conditions, inside and outside the craft "now think navigation" a 2D display of the continent the Alpha site was located on replaced the O2 data.

"Ok Luke, you're next" Jane got up and Luke slipped into place. "Think power" the engine noise increased, suddenly the craft shifted slightly. "NO!" Jon shouted, "Shut it down!" but it continued to move, he pulled Luke out of the seat and settled in himself, the craft once more sat on the ground solidly, Jon looked around angrily "Have you any idea what would have happened had you been stupid enough to take off with that back door open?" he asked, his voice harsh. "This isn't some damn tinker toy, this is a spacecraft!"

Luke looked slightly abashed "You never think do you Luke… nothing ever bloody changes with you" Luke started and opened his mouth, but the youth put a hand up and closed his fingers as a sign to shut up. "You have to learn this… the threats out there are REAL… and I am not talking about the shit you are used to facing… the Wraith will literally suck the life from you, leaving you old and worn out, if not dead! I don't know if any of you have been in actual combat, but I know you two have seen a dead body! Every time you feel like doing something stupid, remember Mark… that is how you will end up if you piss about with this stuff!" Luke and Peter both went pale at the mention of their other brother by this child in front of them.

Jack stepped inside "I think I'll take it from here Jon" he said softly, Jon gave Luke a disgusted look and stepped out of the vehicle. "I warned you" he told his brother. "Don't piss him off, he's going to make General next year, and no matter how young he seems he has more combat experience than you do… and that's first hand, never mind what he got from me. Treat him with some respect and LISTEN to him… he knows more about this stuff than I do nowadays." Jack looked at the 6 people in the craft and waited for them to acknowledge what he was saying, Jane, Pete, June and Philip seemed to have no problems, but Luke looked sullen and Peter thoughtful.

Jack went out of the craft, gesturing for Daniel to go in and keep an eye on them, he made his way to Jon, who was sat on a rock flipping the cover on and off his watch.

"You can't blame them" he said

"I can blame Luke" was the answer "he was deliberately powering the engines"

"That's not what I'm talking about" Jack said

"I know" Jon lowered his head, he changed the subject, "I wanted to come see Cassie at the weekend, wish her the best when you get back will ya?" he told his original.

"Dad was there" Jack told him and the youth shuddered

"Glad I didn't come then… apologise to her will ya, she did send me an invite, but I thought it would be too much once I found out who she was going to get engaged to… I had hoped…" he stopped and lowered his head, and Jack had a sudden insight. Jon had hoped that he and Cassie would get together, they were both ideally suited to knowing how the other felt, and though she was 3 years his physical senior, she was the closest thing to a younger Sam Carter that could be found, and the only person about his age who could be told about his background. Jack put a consoling hand on the young mans shoulder.

"You'll find someone… hell you're only 18" he told him

"18 going on 58" he answered a bleak look on his face, making him look many years past his body's age.

"Yeah how's that going for ya?" Jack asked with a grin, the young man glared and then his expression lightened, which is what Jack was trying for.

"Better than being 58 with a 8 year old inside" the answer came back

"I resemble that remark" the older man said, they laughed and both versions stood and made their way back to the group, Sam raised an eyebrow at her husband, he nodded to tell her everything was OK.

"Hey Carter! I understand he finally knocked you up!" Jon said loudly as they approached, she blushed "About damn time… I was wondering if you would ever get around to it!" Jack gave the clone a warning glance, which of course he ignored… you can't make yourself cower with a look Jack ruefully thought. And of all the people in the universe who could know how to press his buttons, Jon came top of the list, closely followed by Sam, Daniel and Teal'c.

They broke for 'lunch' again, Jack hated travelling to planets on a different rotation, even though that was most of them. His body was telling him it was 1700 by the time they finished eating, even though by the local clock it was only 1230. Jon pulled him to one side after the meal, he had been watching the team all through it.

"Is everything OK with Carter?" he asked, Jack looked at her as she sat drinking her diet coke.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"She looks… tired" he said, Jack looked closely at his wife, she did look tired now the youngster brought it up.

He decided to finish the day quickly and cancelled the drone controls, he asked Jon to take everyone for a quick ride into space in the puddle jumper, it took 2 trips, and Jack made sure he was on the one with Luke and Peter, he sat in the right hand chair as the youth piloted them out towards a small asteroid field next to the planetary orbit and demonstrated the weapons, he was impressed by his clones handling of the craft and his obvious ease… Jack could operate the machinery easily enough… but he had not had enough practise, evidently Jon was keeping his hand in over in the other Galaxy.

They returned to Earth at 2000 SGC local time, bringing the puddle jumper with them, Jon was hitching a ride back on the Daedalus which was on it's way with items too big to fit through the 'gate. The cadets were taken by Daniel back to the academy, the others were shown to their quarters, after taking the craft up through the missile silo entrance and parking it inside the tunnel entrance, covered and guarded, Jack and Sam ended up in his VIP suite.

Jack spent 5 minutes disabling the security cameras, something he had learnt to do quite quickly after the two of the had got together, and they went straight to bed. Jack decided to tell Landry her quarters now were available to give away, she would be moving into his from now on, and sod any Regs or rumours… he wanted his wife to sleep beside him fer cryin' out loud!

**OoΩoO**

The next day the family were assigned to the above ground training facility, Jack sent Teal'c along with them, as they were given basic working knowledge of Zats and Staff weapons, and a Wraith stunner, and ran through a couple of exercises.

Juan turned up along with 3 more staff, and Jack appropriated a couple of offices on level 11 that were no longer essential to the wrapping up of NORAD for his staff, he also started moving the people out of the base that were no longer needed, and as NORAD was now going to a small office in Peterson, he was given some say in the deployment of the specialists that had worked there, especially the ones who had worked on the star wars project and other space based defence systems.

He had 2 weeks more to the end of the month, to clear the top of the mountain, and he at last told Hank his full plans, which came as a huge relief to the older man, who was going crazy trying to find room for everyone.

Dr Felger was the first person Jack moved up above the higher secure area, he had decided after yet another FUBAR by the scientist that only low level things would be handled by him in future, as anything with a power source or anything unknown was an imminent threat when Jay got close to it!

Dr Lee was given full command of the front line scientists below level 11, he would report to Sam, who would report in her turn to Hank… and of course Hank to him. Sam wasn't pleased to be put into such a roll, but as Jack pointed out, either she accepted it or worked with Felger… being pregnant had huge disadvantages for someone used to being a front line combat officer.

All in all things seemed to be going along well, David would be at the SGC full time the week after, when he graduated. Jacob and Mike he had secretly marked down for the Atlantis expedition, being the youngest he hoped they would be able to give Jon the respect he deserved and that his rank demanded.

He wanted to test Lukes kids, but was wary of asking until Luke settled more into the SGC, as the youngest in the family (Jack was 10 years his senior) he had always been spoilt, everyone else had protected him, and so he had grown up expecting things to go the way he wanted them to, Jack had hoped that being in the Army had sorted him out, but by the way he had acted with Jon it looked as if it hadn't.

A call came through to him at 1600 asking him to go to the security gates at the main entrance, when he got there it was Grace and Michael. They had come to say goodbye, and luckily had left Jon snr back at the motel with Rachael and the other members of the family.

Jack hugged his sister tightly, not sure when or even if he would ever see her again, the week had been stressful for him, as the weekend had been for everyone else, and in a way he was glad that they were heading back north… there was no real reason why Grace an Michael should move down to the springs, Mike, their youngest was now at the academy, but he had been at West Point anyway, not at home, so even though she was the closest of his siblings, he hoped she would stay in Minnesota and keep their father with her.

He noticed that no one else had come, he was disappointed that Hope had not taken the trouble, but then he could only blame himself, he had mentioned Mark, and though he had not expected her to hear it, he knew that it would have caused her pain to have it all dragged up again.

He wished them well and watched as their taxi turned around and drove away… for someone who had cut himself off so long go he found himself wishing he had kept in touch more… then he thought about the contact with his father, and the wishing went away… he could live without them all, he had managed for years so far without a problem, after all he had Sam now, and Daniel and Teal'c as brothers.

He turned and made his way to level 11 and spent a couple of hours clearing his inbox, which Juan kept topping up, until the others returned from their training.

He collected Sam and Daniel, and Teal'c was waiting by the top lift, and they all went to O'Malleys for dinner, all in all Jack was happier than he had been for over 2 years. He loved his job, it wasn't all the paperwork and Politian's that he thought it would be when he first took it, and it was definitely better than running the SGC and the niggling details that involved, but he had missed the team, and now he was back he felt at home.

**OoΩoO**


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

After dropping the two men back on the mountain Jack and Sam drove home, the main advantage of her being away from the front lines meant he would see her every day, and know she would be home next to him every night, or at least in the SGC if they didn't make it to the house.

They were just getting ready for bed when Sams cellphone beeped, she picked it up and opened it.

"Carolyn wants to see me in the morning" Sam said reading her phone "It can't be that important as she just sent a text"

She turned the screen so he could see, the text was as simple as she had said, but she had known he would worry she was hiding something if he hadn't seen it himself. He was about to mention her being tired when he decided to leave it, Carolyn probably already knew and was working on vitamins or something for her, he would bring it up later if she seemed to get no better.

They had both been guilty over the last few years of hiding the little niggling details from each other to protect their spouse from worrying too much, and though they were trying to be more open, it wasn't easy for either of them.

Sam went into the en-suite as Jack did his last check around the house, and she came out of the bathroom as he returned, he gasped, the light from behind her threw her body into silhouette, the sheer nighty she had on didn't hide much in the light and may as well not have been there at all, he immediately felt himself react to the sight, and all thoughts of doctors and tests left him for the rest of the night.

**OoΩoO**

They were late rising, unusually Sam slept past the alarm, Jack decided to allow her some extra sleep as she had been so tired of late, and he underestimated how long it would take her to get ready, so instead of the smooth run they usually had up to work they got caught in the traffic.

The traffic up to the mountain was heavier than ever that morning, a lot of the equipment that NORAD had used was being removed and destroyed, and huge diesel rigs were travelling up and down the mountain shifting the old fashioned computer banks and large display screens.

Jack arrived at the gate to the upper car park 1 hour 15 minutes later than he normally would have, the sergeant in charge made him pull over as another trailer was trying to turn to reverse out of the base, he tapped the wheel impatiently, noticing in the rear view that there were now 4 cars behind him. He hoped he wouldn't need to reverse, there was nowhere for him to go.

The rig almost made it, the tractor turned slightly too much as he exited the gate, and Jack only got a glimpse as the bed of the wagon travelled too far too fast and smashed into the cab of his truck, Jacks reactions were as quick as ever and he managed to grab Sam and shove her down, but his seat belt and the fact that he went to protect her and not himself, meant that he was crushed into his seat by the steel rear of the vehicle.

**OoΩoO**

A too familiar beeping noise, the smell of disinfectant and the noise of an instrument laden trolley going over the slight bump half way down the infirmary told Jack where he was before he even opened his eyes. He had thought that waking in this room was a thing of the past, he hadn't been subjected to it for more than 2 years now, and he wished he never would again.

He lay still, waiting for the inevitable pain to flood him, and was very surprised when it didn't… that wasn't good! He tested his fingers, everything seemed OK, then his toes, and he believed he could feel them as well. What was going on?

"He's awake" Daniels voice said, quick footsteps came closer, and Jack at last opened his eyes to see Carolyn advance, reaching for her pen light.

"You don't need that!" Jack said, surprised again when his voice worked without him needing a drink.

"Let me be the judge of that!" Carolyn said, and of course she shone the light into both his eyes.

"Sam?" Jack asked, pushing the physician out of the way when he realised she wasn't in sight.

"She's fine, she's in the bed next to you," the doctor said, the beeping sped up and she put a reassuring hand onto his shoulder, pushing him back into the bed. "She's only there because she's asleep, she got away with a few scratches from the windscreen glass, she's been at your side the full 30 hours since we got you out of surgery… by the way it's Thursday night"

Almost two days? Jack absorbed the lost time, it was something he was used to, in fact he had probably lost several months, if not a year of his life, through being unconscious after various injuries.

"Jack?" Sams sleepy voice came from his side, he turned to see her propping herself up "typical, you wake up the second I try to sleep" he saw her smile gently at him, and relief flooded his body… she was OK.

"So what's the damage?" he asked, Daniel and Sam both looked at Carolyn, who shrugged and returned their looks. "What?" he asked again.

"There isn't any" Carolyn said, taking the sticky pads off his chest and turning off the machines beside the bed. Jack looked puzzled at her… no damage? But he had had surgery? He swung his legs out of the bed, yup everything seemed to be working fine, not a twinge anywhere, and no sign of a scar either.

"How come?" he asked and saw the medic shrug.

"No idea, I was hoping you would be able to tell US" she said. "Let's start at the start… The rig pinned you to your seat, the left side of your chest was crushed, almost every rib on that side was broken and the lung collapsed, your diaphragm was damaged, as well as your heart, but everything below that was fine. We managed to free you from the vehicle quite quickly, though we had to restart your heart twice, and got you into surgery, while Dr Warner was working on you he noted in the voice recorder certain things happening, as he repaired the lung, the heart and diaphragm were repairing themselves and the ribs at the back were healing, by the time he had been working on you for an hour the damage was almost all gone, only the spreaders were keeping your chest open for him, he closed your chest and by the time we got you into post op you didn't even have a scar!"

Jack sat amazed… what the hell?

"Do you have any explanation for it?" Carolyn asked, he shook his head, Daniel stepped closer

"I had an idea, but I'm not sure how much it's worth" Jack gestured for him to continue "When you got that second download, you healed Bra'tac… remember?"

"You know I don't!" Jack had repeatedly told them that he remembered nothing past leaving the SGC to board the ship for Taonas, which wasn't totally true, he remembered improving the engine and his almost 'talk' with Sam, but nothing past that.

"OK, well Teal'c and I suspected that you had developed the healing power of the ancients, like Ayiana. But she couldn't heal herself, it looks like YOU CAN!"

"But I've been injured since then and not healed myself" Jack pointed out, remembering the state he came back from Atlantis after the replicators had had him.

"Maybe it had to be life and death?" Daniel speculated, "I've tried to contact Jon over in Atlantis, and left a message as he's away at the moment, to see if he has noticed anything."

"He didn't get the second download though" Jack said

"No, but it could be something that is genetic, something triggered by proximity to ancient tech, and Jon is in proximity a lot more than you are!" That was true, but Jack had another theory, he wasn't about to share it though.

"So… am I OK to go?" Jack asked, the doctor smiled at him and nodded.

"I suggest you both stay on base for now though General, even though you seem to be 100 fit, there must be a reason why you slept for so long! Sam is too tired to drive, and you don't have a vehicle anyway at the moment." Jack would miss his truck, he had had it for years, but maybe it was time to get something a bit more family friendly… any kids would be in high school before they would be tall enough to climb into the monster by themselves.

He helped his wife off the bed and put his arm around her as Daniel opened the infirmary doors, they travelled together until they got to the lifts, Daniel pressed 18, heading to his lab rather than his quarters, Jack pressed 25 and headed to the VIP suite.

Once there he helped the sleepy woman get ready for bed and he joined her in it, holding her tightly, grateful that they were still together after yet another close call.

**OoΩoO**


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

Jack walked into his office at 0900 and registered the shock on the faces of his staff, it seemed no one had bothered to tell them he was OK, and unlike SG1, they had not camped the infirmary until they knew what was happening.

Juan was the first to find his voice "G-General! Glad to see you again Sir, we thought you were seriously hurt"

"All exaggerated" he told them, waving his hand.

"No sir, sorry sir, "he added quickly when Jack raised his eyes at the contradiction "I was in the car behind you when the accident happened, I saw how badly you were injured" the young man was trying to reconcile the obviously healthy General with the battered, blood soaked, body that had been taken from the wreck of his truck.

"A miracle of modern medicine, then" Jack was going to snap at someone soon, unless they stopped looking at him like he had 3 heads and started doing their work. "Carry on people… Juan with me" he walked through the outer office into his private adjoining one. "So anything happen the last 2 days I need to know?"

"The President called several times the first day, but I had to pass him to General Landry as we didn't know anything… the IOA is proposing another review of resources now we have so many people with the ancient gene available again… your trip to the middle east is booked for the end of the month, the 17 service men and women have received their orders to gather on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, and they will be air lifted to a secluded secure area, where you have permission to land the cloaked puddle jumper and test them, anyone of a 3 or higher, or in the Airforce and a 2 and higher, will be re-assed ASAP to the SGC. The orders are already cut for each person and you just have to hand them out or cancel them" the aide looked at his ever present clipboard "next… there will be 22 at Nellis, on Monday of next week, of course that was dependant on you being up and around" again the man looked at his boss sideways as if to assure himself that it wasn't a trick that he was there "there is one more person to see down at Peterson, but we decided to collect everyone else that was left and bring them all here from the east coast you just have to decide when you want that to happen. There will be 4 that you have not seen after all this, as three are deployed far away"

"Far away? I have a puddle jumper" Jack pointed out

"Yes sir, but the IOA and Pentagon don't think it is worth you going all the way to McMurdo and Afghanistan to test just one person at each… one of the others is in a sub under the arctic ice for a 3 month mission, and the last, well I am having problems getting permission to talk to him for you, as he is in the maximum security wing of Leavenworth!" Jack raised an eyebrow, he would look over that one himself then, and decide if they were desperate enough to test him. He told his aide to make the Peterson meeting on Wednesday of the following week and to bring the meeting in the gulf forward to the Friday if possible.

Jack was about to dismiss the man back to his duties when the phone rang, "O'Neill" he answered, and was surprised to hear his Commander in Chief on the line, Jack waved to Juan to leave and sat himself in his chair.

"Jack, I just received a very strange report from Hank about you not being injured after all" the President said.

"Yeah, we are trying to work out if it is the ancient gene that caused it… though I can't think of anything else that possibly could be the reason, or why it suddenly stated working now"

"Well, glad to hear you are back on your feet, hows the training going?"

"Don't know as yet Sir, only had the one day with them before the accident, I'm going to go catch up with them when I've done all this lovely paperwork you keep sending me" Jack was glad his Chief had a sense of humour like his own "Teal'c had them on Tuesday, training, I guess he carried on while I was out of it. He knows what needs to be done." There was no sign on his desk of a report from the big man, "I was just going over the schedule for testing the AGs, the way we have it set up we should be able to run 4 training sessions at once, on rotation, depending how strong each is"

"Any hopes we will get a combat vet with a level 4? Jon has been in touch, while you were out, they only have him, 2 3s, not including Sheppard, and the rest are all 2s though that means they can run several offworld teams, if the pilot gets hit everyone has to walk back to the 'gate and get someone with the gene to go pick the craft back up, NOT an ideal situation, and if they are off to a world with a space 'gate then they have even more problems."

"Well sir, we are already better off than we were, there used to be only myself and Jon as 4s, and he was still in school, at least now we have Jane, she's an AF Captain, even though she has never been on the front lines, as well as the cadets coming along, David will be out of the Academy the end of the week"

"But he won't be ready to go to Pegasus yet… he needs more training before we throw him to the other galaxy, otherwise we would just as well be feeding him straight to the Wraith."

"Agreed"

"Will Captain Flynn be ready and willing to go, do you think?"

"I have no idea sir, even though they are family you have to remember I haven't even met most of them before last week. Last time I saw Jane before this, she was 3 years old!" The president chuckled. They said goodbye and Jack looked at the desk… it was true, he had no idea about any of the people he had in his new command, they could be total strangers as far as he was concerned, and he really should treat them as such.

"Juan!" he shouted and a head popped around the door, Jack had long since stopped the marching in and standing to attention that most Generals at the Pentagon insisted on "Any reason I should be here and not attending the training session?" he asked, his aide shook his head.

"No sir, just the usual paperwork" Jack stood and grabbed his BDU jacket from the back of his chair.

"'K I'll see you this afternoon then" he said and left through the other door, straight into the corridor on level 11, he had decided to keep his office above the second elevator to allow Hank sole command of the lower facility as much as possible with security the way it had to be. He made his way to the down elevator and travelled to 23 to see the 'class'.

No one was in the converted storage area, though it looked as if a bomb had dropped over in one corner, Jack looked around, schematics littered the desks, he picked a couple up and saw a Wraith dart and a puddle jumper, as well as a couple of other things he couldn't identify straight away.

"UNSCHEDULED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION" Walters voice echoed down the hallways and though it was no longer his responsibility, automatically Jack turned and moved to the 'gate room as quickly as he could.

**OoΩoO**


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

By the time he got down to '28, whoever had come in had moved up to the briefing room, so Jack walked up the stairs to get there, noticing his knees weren't complaining as they usually did as he thumped his way up the steel staircase.

"Old man! Hear you had a bit of a boo boo" the youth grinned.

Hank was trying his best NOT to grin at the irreverent attitude being shown to his boss. Jack gave him a mock glare and Jon turned to the two star General "and I remember what happened in Bangkok when you got drunk on Saki so don't you grin too much" Hank jumped slightly and then blushed, Jack grinned this time, though Hank knew intellectually that the lad was him, he had not actually accepted it before… now mention of the infamous trip had convinced him the youth really did have all Jacks memories.

Hanks coughed into his hand, a mannerism that Jack recognised as one he himself used to hide embarrassment, "So, Jon, what brings you to the Milky way again?"

"The message I got about Jack here healing, I thought I would come through and ask for more details as there weren't any at all in the message I got."

"Well basically, I busted myself up pretty badly and somehow healed in a couple of hours"

"How badly?" he asked

"Iran/Iraq" Jack answered

"Ouch!" Jon cringed, remembering the battering they had taken back then. "So you want to know if I have had anything similar happen?" the other two men nodded. "Well, nope, but then I haven't injured myself lately anyway, they are wrapping me in cotton wool over there, I have to shout VERY loud to get offworld never mind into any actual danger!"

Jack actually was pleased about that, even though he knew how potty it would drive the young man, he didn't want to be reading the death notice of another 'son'. When Jon had first got over to the other galaxy he had assigned himself to an offworld team and had gone face to face with the Wraith several times before being ordered to either step back or be brought back, the President had not been willing to risk his life and had been tempted to send Sam back out again in his place if the youth had not listened.

The only reason Jon had done as he was told was because he didn't want to split Sam and Jack again after they had finally worked it all out.

"So how are we going to test this? Or can we test it may be a better question?"

"No idea, I wouldn't like either of us risking injury just to test if it's working, in case it isn't!"

"I suppose I could cut myself, something that is easily treatable" Jack said uncertainly, A voice from the doorway broke into the conversation.

"No you don't, a small break in a bone would be preferable to breaking the skin and risking infection!" Carolyn was walking into the room, Jack and Jon both jumped, "and we would need to do both of you at the same time, also Jon may need the download, or even a near death event to trigger his ability" she frowned at the three men, "all in all I don't recommend that either of you try it Sirs"

"I don't think it has anything to do with the download" Jon said, Hank looked at him puzzled.

"Why not?" he asked

"Because I think it's something else," Jack shook his head slightly trying to tell the young man to be quiet, unfortunately everyone caught the movement.

"Jack?" Hank asked "Something you need to tell us?"

"Not really" he glared at his younger self. He sighed, there was no point trying to hide it now. "Thor came to visit us before he died, that's why I didn't come along with you lot when you went to see them for the last time, he beamed both of us up to his ship and talked to us, then as we left he said he had given us a 'gift' that would come in useful later, I had no idea what it was"

"And I think this is it" Jon finished off

"But is it to do with the ancient gene?" Carolyn asked

"It must be, we know they had the ability, Thor probably just made a recessive gene linked to the AG into a dominant one" Jack said.

"Does this mean you can heal others do you think?" she asked suddenly, hope in her eyes

"Maybe… why?"

"Dave Dixons team came back about 6 days ago, Balinsky is in the ICU with a head injury, he's in a coma"

Both O'Neills looked at each other and communicated silently, then they rose and gestured for the doctor to precede them from the room, Hank followed as well as they made their way to the quiet side corridor where the ICU rooms were.

The red headed man was laying on the table in the centre of the room, wires and tubes ran in and out of his body and a steady beeping noise came from the machines at the head of the bed.

"You try first kid" Jack gestured. Jon put his hands in his pockets and puffed out his cheeks, rocking on his heels.

"I have no idea where to start, or how to start" he admitted.

"Try it as if it's a piece of ancient tech… just concentrate, like you did the first time you got into a puddle jumper" Carolyn suggested. The young man shrugged and moved to the far side of the bed, he placed his right hand on the archaeologists chest, he concentrated, and then suddenly moved his right hand to the mans head and his left to this chest, sweat stood out on the youths forehead, the heart monitors beeping sped up, he was definitely having some effect.

Balinksy coughed, and groaned, Jon was getting pale and swaying slightly, so Jack went over and put his hands on the man as well and suddenly the injured man opened his eyes, looking up at the General and Colonel both touching him. Carolyn moved swiftly to remove the breathing tube from the panicking man, as Jon broke contact, he sagged and fell to the floor, Jack rushed around and before Hank could move to help he picked him up without apparent effort, he sat him on the chair in the corner that the nurses used to sit on while they filled in the obs sheets.

"You OK?" Jack asked

"Yeah, takes a lot out of you" Jon answered weakly "Thanks for the help at the back end"

"You could feel me helping?" Jack asked and received a nod. Jack had felt something… familiar, but had not known exactly what it was.

"Dolmata" the youth said softly, already slumping down in his chair, Jack lifted him and Carolyn said

"Take him into the ward, into the usual SG1 bed, I want to observe him for a while" She hardly took her eyes off the test results she was getting from the SG13 member.

Jack carried the boy into the infirmary and placed him in the bed next to the doctors office, Janet had started putting SG1 members in the closest beds early on, so she could hear if they started complaining… well if he was honest, she put them there so she could stop HIM trying to bully her staff!

He stood over the youth until Carolyn came in, followed by her father. She took his blood pressure and other stats, and then looked at the Generals. "You slept for 40 hours after healing yourself, I think the process is very draining, and Jon did most of the healing here, hopefully he will be up and about soon, because the damage was not to himself and it wasn't anywhere as bad as yours was" Jack nodded "At least we know now that you both have it, and maybe if we investigate we can 'turn on' the ability in the AG4s at least, something that will be helpful if they are put into combat"

"I'm not sure it would help quick enough to be used in combat, you said yourself that I had to be resuscitated… and there's no advantage to healing if you are going to fall asleep after and get caught." Hank nodded in agreement.

"However it will help with situations like that" Jack inclined his head to the ICU area "I could try getting David, Jane and Mike to come in, but how would I explain it to them to try?"

"Let's wait first, I want to do a more in depth study of all of your DNA, and I have requested a specialist to help" the boy on the bed moaned and rolled onto his front, sticking his backside up in the air as he got comfortable… the three people around him got the hint and moved away with their conversation.

"As I was saying, I have asked for help and the request got approved, we are just waiting for the doctor to arrive, we had a bit of a problem convincing him to help us"

"Oh?" Jack questioned

"He had security clearance, and has known about what we do here for a while, but he seemed to think we were going to stop his own research and stop him seeing patients"

"Why?"

"Because he was one of the doctors contacted to see if he wanted to work on Atlantis when Dr Weir first came back, he refused to sign for the one year blind contract so he never went."

"Simon Wallace?" Jack asked and noticed the other two people look at him quickly.

"Erm yes" Carolyn said "I didn't know you knew him"

"I didn't, I met him after Elizabeth Weir went missing, he was the original next of kin when she left for Pegasus… when I went to tell him, he didn't seem surprised, though he was upset. He had just got married to someone and she wasn't pleased with him being told an ex-girlfriend was dead." Not pleased was an understatement, the couple were still screaming at each other when he reached his car to leave.

"Well, he's going to be here Monday," she said "and he also was one of the men working on the gene therapy programme after it started failing, so at least he will be able to get into the work quickly."

Jack nodded his head and the two men left the youth to sleep and the doctor to watch over him.

"Any idea where my lot are today?" Jack asked Hank, remembering he was supposed to be catching up on their training.

"Not a clue, Walter will know" the older man said

"Of course he will" Jack agreed with a smile, they ducked into the first room with a phone and got hold of Walter.

"In the training camp on the surface… warehouse D" Jack heard, D was where they ran certain scenarios, usually the 'you have to get box A before bomb B explodes' types, well at least the family were working well if they were up to that level of training already.

"OK, I'll need a jeep" Jack said

"You'll need a driver too, Carolyn said you shouldn't drive" Damn he was hoping that Hank didn't know that, he hated being driven around, in DC he had no choice, you couldn't have a 3 star General late for a meeting because he was trying to find a parking space… but he had hoped that around here he would be back to driving himself.

"OK… just for now though Hank, I'll go wait up top for him" he headed for the elevator, the other General stuck by him.

"Erm, Jack…wait by the security check in desk will you, the President wants you to have an armed escort for a while"

Jacks eyebrows rose in surprise "Why fer Gods sake?" he asked

"Because the man who was driving the rig that crashed into you was taken to the academy hospital to be treated for shock and he disappeared from there and hasn't been seen since! Not everyone is convinced it was an accident"

Oh yeah! That was all he needed! Someone on Earth out to get him! Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair, he shrugged an agreement, there was no point arguing it out with Hank, after all he was just following orders.

**OoΩoO**


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

He and his fully armed escort arrived at D quite quickly, Jack watched as a team consisting of Peter, Pete, Jane and June approached the open barn type doors and covered each other as they went in. He watched the time until the came out, June was carrying the box, but Pete was nowhere to be seen, Jack had a feeling of Déjà vu, he remembered the mighty midget when they were training Lt Elliot, another good man who had died too young, he had seen Hailey around a couple of times when he had visited over the last few years, but hadn't seen her recently, he wondered what had happened to her, Sam would know. He made a mental note to ask.

Teal'c stepped around the building, the rest of the gang with him. Pete staggered out of the doors coughing to clear the smoke in his lungs from the 'explosion' that had 'killed' him.

Jack walked up to the group, everyone except Teal'c came to attention and saluted… he wanted to tell them not to bother but felt discipline would suffer if he allowed them the same casual attitude he had allowed in his last 3 commands, it was hard enough with them being relatives, without breaking all formal barriers down too soon.

Teal'c handed over a clipboard, the marks for each team, and each team member were displayed in the bold easy to read Jaffa handwriting. Jack was NOT surprised to find Luke scored low on working with the team unless he was the one in charge, and a side note said he refused to listen to any other opinion but his own when he was team leader, Jack had a sinking feeling that HE was going to be saddled with the man in the end, there was no way he could be sent through to Pegasus with his attitude, at least in the Milky Way he had a chance of not ending up on someone's menu through his arrogance.

Jane, Pete and Jon scored highest. None of them were married and thinking about the Presidents call earlier he provisionally marked them for Atlantis.

"Sir!" Jack would have groaned out loud, but he didn't want Luke to know he was getting under his skin.

"Major?" he turned

"Wouldn't we be better being trained by someone who is actually a member of the armed forces? I mean no disrespect intended towards Teal'c" oh Jack bet there wasn't any! "but what qualifies him to teach US? OK so he was high in the ranks of the enemy at one time, but just because he is a turncoat shouldn't mean we have to obey him"

"Major O'Brien!" Jack snapped and his brother jumped to attention. "Teal'c has shown his loyalty to Earth more times than YOU have seen combat! Added to that his experiences offworld and as a Jaffa to the Goa'uld, and his exceptional skills as a warrior he should automatically command your respect, however if you feel unable to follow his orders, just let me know, I'll have you busted down to Second Lieutenant so fast your head will spin and we will see how much you enjoy being the bottom of the pile!"

The man was bright red, especially as everyone else was witnessing his dressing down. Jack had every reason to berate him publically, because if he didn't there was a risk that his attitude would spread to the others, and Jack couldn't have that happening.

"Teal'c!" he said and watched the man walk forwards with his leonine grace "Do you have a problem with this soldier?"

"No O'Neill, he will be worthy when he grows up" Jack saw Luke about to open his mouth, but one glance from Jack shut him up.

"Tell him how old you are!" Jack instructed, Teal'c paused momentarily and decided to give his real age not the time since his birth.

"I am one hundred and sixty three Earth years old" he stated, Jack watched the reactions of the other people.

"And please tell the _Major_ your rank" he said

"My rank, according to your President of the United States is a Colonel of the United States Air Force" Jack smirked, he was ever so glad he had managed to persuade President Hayes to give the man a commission almost to the rank he deserved, Teal'c had sacrificed so much to stay with the humans… his wife, his world and his life with his son, 50 years on a spaceship… and now he was living a separate life from his second wife and his grandchildren so that he could be training this moron!

"So Luke" Jack said, bringing it down to the personal, "Anything you want to add before I allow him to rip your head from your shoulders? After all, we have a perfect safety record, no one would be surprised if it eventually broke." He had watched the colour drain from Lukes face, and though the others seemed surprised at the revelation of Teal'c rank they didn't have the same problem, because all had so far treated the man with the respect he deserved.

Jack wondered just how many of the old mans prejudices Luke was carrying around, he remembered the epithet directed at Teal'c during the party and wondered if the bigoted attitude he had grown up with was a part of Luke's problems… but then everyone had always found an excuse for Luke… maybe THAT was the main problem.

"I'm assigning you to work with the scientists" Jack decided, tired of trying to get blood from a stone. "Report to level 19, Samantha Carters lab, at 1600 for instructions.

"B…B…But, the training course?" Luke spluttered

"Forget it, you just flunked" Jack said "there's no way I'm having your attitude put a team in jeopardy, you can work with the tech on base. You won't be going off world again unless there's no choice" he turned his back on the fuming man.

He and Teal'c walked towards the others, Jane was coming along so well Jack was tempted to hurry her through and ask her if she wanted to go to Atlantis, but he knew as well as anyone that shortcuts in training led to nothing but dead soldiers. Teal'c promised to push her, IF Jack would put in for a promotion for her when she was finished. Jack was happy to oblige, from her service record he wondered why she was still a Captain anyway!

Though Teal'c had the rank he never used it, preferring to remain Jaffa rather than USAF, the rank was more honourary, a sign of the Presidents confidence in the man rather than a proper commission, T wouldn't have thanked him for the paperwork the job entailed. But that didn't mean the rank wasn't real… it was! And Jack intended for everyone to know he had it!

He looked at his watch, it was 1500 already, where had the day gone? With the next day being Saturday and the teams training, Jack felt he could safely leave and visit with the Nellis bunch on Monday. Nellis was a good location for the meeting because they had a huge underground hanger that Jack could park the puddle jumper in, rather than him just seeming to appear out of thin air while on the ground, and risk someone walking into the cloaked craft.

He jumped in the jeep, his security people following and he went back to the mountain.

He got to Sams lab with 20 minutes to spare and he explained about Luke and his attitude to first Jon and then Teal'c, Jack hoped she would generate more respect from the man as she had been an active front line officer, of good standing and the correct age group… if he had a problem it would either be with her being a scientist or female, and if he damaged his chance with Sam, who was the most reasonable person he knew, then he wouldn't be worth the effort of training.

Luke marched up, flanked by the SF who had given him a lift and had volunteered to guide him to the lab. He marched in and saluted Jack, offering his hand to Sam to shake. She did and she smiled at him, Jack gritted his teeth, and left before he said something he may regret.

At 1800 he finished the pile of papers that had piled up while he had been incapacitated, his staff were excellent at keeping the dross away and only giving him the stuff he needed, or wanted, to know. No bunting or mix up of potatoes for him to deal with nowadays, Damn! He was glad he shoved all that to Hank… Hank was better able to deal with it, having been on a desk since the early 90s… Jack had hated that part of his duties when he ran the SGC, and no matter how he tried he really couldn't bring himself to care about the small rubbish, even if he cared about the people who DID care!

He slipped his jacket off the back of his chair… damn he was going to have to wear his class As on Monday at Nellis! He looked at the BDU jacket, he wondered what the people would say if he went like that? He had to admit he didn't look much like his idea of a Lieutenant General unless he was in the full regalia, and that would make Boris the chimp look like he had power.

Then there was the fact that Sam wouldn't let him… she used any excuse she could to see him in his full get-up, though the after effects of THAT were always worth the trouble of wearing the starched collar!

He would be damned though if he was going to put on the full monkey suit when he went to the gulf… dessert camos were fine for there, they would stop him sweating like a pig… Class As heavy woollen cloth plus middle east weather was a sure thing for impending heat stroke!

He made his way to Sams lab to pick her up… he had a niggling feeling he was forgetting something, but he couldn't think what, and as he usually never forgot anything important he dismissed the feeling… all he wanted was to get home, crack a beer, light the grill and eat a steak! If Daniel and Teal'c came around, as they often did when he was in the springs, so much the better… if not he wouldn't mind a quiet night in with his wife!

**OoΩoO**


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

"I am an officer of the USAF and have earned my position and every promotion, and I am warning you, try that again and I will demonstrate HOW I earned it!" Sams angry tones drifted down the hallway, Jack groaned.

"TENHUT!" he shouted as he walked into the room, as he expected there were just two occupants, Sam and Luke, and Luke was stood so close to Sam it looked almost indecent, and THAT was at attention. Jack told Sam to stand easy as he walked to the phone, he called Landry and then the security office on level 16, he spoke with the officer in charge and asked for the footage from Sams lab for the last … Sam held up both hands splayed …10 minutes to be sent, at the same time, to the General and to her laptop, and to compress the file ready for mailing to the Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey.

He saw Luke blanch as he moved over to the computer and opened the video link, the sound came through loud and clear as Luke tried to feel Sam up, her attempts to avoid his grasp seemed only to spur him on. Jacks face turned to a horrid shade of purple as Luke's voice floated over the speakers

"Everyone knows how you got your promotions, and if you can open your legs for my older brother, you should see what a younger version can do for you" Lukes face went grey as his voice came over the system… Jack realised he had been counting on the video being just that… no sound, as all his actions could look as if he had been invited. Jack felt like all the muscles in his body were trying to stiffen at the same time, leaving him unable to move or react to the scene on the computer. He continued to play the feed until in the end Sam threatened him with actual harm, at which point Jack pivoted on his heel and regarded the man whose biological connection was as welcome as his fathers.

Jack contacted the SFs, to find out that Hank had already ordered a detail to Sams Lab, Hank arrived at the door before the detail did, his face was thunder as he watched the man who had cast such aspersions on one of the best officers that he ever had had the honour to serve with. Jack knew better than to hope Luke would resist, he wasn't built for direct confrontation, always he had worked behind the scenes, like the slime mould he was.

The security officers arrived and read him his rights, put him into cuffs and led him away to the cells. Jack was still looking at a frame on the computer screen, Sam walked over to him, she would have put her arms around him, but he knew she could tell he was too tense, years of working with him had taught her not to push when he was angry, he would snap and explode at anyone in reach, he would be sorry afterwards, but it would be too late and so she waited for him to calm and move away from what held his attention.

"Genetics" he ground out "Everything comes back to the genes, Luke is so much his fathers son it's frightening. I hope Christine understands that we have done her a favour, something my mother never would have." Sam looked at the still that Jack had on the screen and she remembered the confrontation she had had with his father at Cassies party. He was right, the same contemptuous expression on both mens faces as they looked at her, not as an officer, or even as a person, but as a second class citizen, there just to do the mans bidding! He lifted his fist and brought it down on the computer, smashing the keyboard to bits. He watched as a small cut on his hand from a jagged piece of plastic healed over and disappeared. "I wish he had died instead of…" he couldn't finish the sentence, still he felt too raw about the whole thing, after all this time the wound felt freshly opened because of the week preceding.

"Who was Mark?" she asked softly, probably feeling at last that she may get an answer, Jack almost crumbled… it was time she knew…he looked at Hank and then back to Sam.

"Not here" he told her, she nodded, she understood that this was too private for even an old friend like Hank to know about, she knew he was incapable of sharing certain things with people who he was not intimately connected to, something Sarah never accepted, she would have pushed for him to open up as soon as she knew there was something to tell.

He told Hank to send a squad around to Christine from the nearest base to let her know what had happened and he put his arm around his wife and steered her to the lifts.

**OoΩoO**

They went home, followed by the security people, who then deployed around the building. He hoped to God the others wouldn't turn up, he didn't get a beer, he didn't light the grill, he sat in the living room on the sofa and gathered his thoughts.

"It was 1964" he started "I had just returned from the summer holidays with my mothers folks, after she and dad married they moved away… couldn't stand the shame, they said… but somehow they always made me feel wanted, something I didn't get at home. My mother loved me, but she was too frightened of dad to stand up for me and so I spent a hell of a lot of time being punished… and usually I didn't know what for" he drew in a shuddering breath…

_Gran and granddad always took me for the long holidays, I would stay in Minnesota on their farm with them, they never invited any of the other kids, and for 3 months a year I felt like I belonged somewhere, but inevitably I had to return because he wouldn't allow them to keep me, it was his way of getting back at them… I would show up, underfed, usually bruised, with nothing but the ragged clothes on my back and just under three months later just as they had repaired the damage I had to go back. It almost broke their hearts year after year._

_I returned home and as usual he met me at the door and took my bags, he emptied them out and gave away everything that he couldn't pawn for cash, by '64 he was out of the corps, and he was perpetually drunk. _

_Grace had just turned 10 the week before I got back, I usually missed her birthday, but she didn't mind, Gran had bought her a snow-globe, he smashed it on the living room floor before she even got to see it._

_Peter was 8, he was a smart kid, the teachers were always sending home letters asking if he could take tests for scholarships, dad always burnt them, HE hadn't had a college education and so he saw no reason for his children to need one, 'just give them ideas above their station' he would say 'they ain't better than me and they ain't gonna be looking down their noses at ME just because of some fancy schooling'_

_The twins were almost 7, Hope was beautiful, like Grace, she had blonde curly hair and brown eyes, but she was sweeter, softer and quieter, and everyone she knew fell in love with her, Mark was a little bugger though… if there was mischief to be had, he found it! He loved to laugh though, and you couldn't stay mad at him, even when the practical jokes he played were directed at you!_

_Luke was 3, almost 4, and already the darling of the family, he couldn't do anything wrong! He had a vicious streak a mile wide and was a sly git to boot, if he ever got caught out he was always ready to blame someone else, and it was usually ME so dad would believe him… after all I was just 'that bastard'_

_It happened one Friday afternoon, Dad had passed out on the sofa, his usual afternoon occupation after the morning hair-of-the-dog, he would sleep for a few hours and then rise in the early evening and drink until he passed out again, mum worked in a café in town, 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, and she would come home tired, and have to face looking after the house as well as cleaning up her husband, and if she even looked at him wrong she would be walking around with a black eye for the next few days… back then the police wouldn't have got involved even if someone had dared to report him… which as far as I know, no one ever did._

_I had been kept behind at school, a project I had been supposed to complete at home and hand in had 'gone missing' and the teacher wanted to talk to me… I had expected a dressing down for late work, but no, he wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help… he had seen the bruises, and he knew the situation at home, though it was Chicago we lived in a close knit community, everyone knew what was happening behind the closed doors._

_When I finally convinced him to drop it, that I would be out of there the second I was able, and that I had dreams of attending the Air Force academy, and if I couldn't get in, just join up and work my way through the ranks, he promised to be on hand to help when the time came and he gave me a lift home._

_Not many people had cars back then, especially not school teachers, but this one was from money, and he worked because he wanted to, not because he had to. We drew up just after dad woke from his 'nap' something had happened… I never did find out what… and he was looking for ME to blame._

_However even HE could see that I couldn't have done it, not being there and all, so Mark was next in line for blame, I got the feeling it was another one of Lukes stunts, but like I say, I never found out for sure._

_Anyway the teacher had words with dad, warning him that if I came to school bruised on Monday morning he would call the welfare and report him for working on the side… dad hadn't done a days work since the day they kicked him from the force, but he daren't lose the money that the state was paying him to keep his family._

_He locked Mark in the cellar, it was cold and dark down there, no light at all, no windows. We hadn't been able to afford coal and it was still summer so all that was left was the thick choking dust that rose up and stopped you breathing if you moved around too much._

_By 10pm Mark was crying, he wanted out, I grabbed some bread and cheese from the larder and was just about to unlock the door when HE caught me! He opened the door to the cellar and Mark tried to rush out… the vicious bastard pushed him back and shoved me in after him, he locked the door and we could hear him shouting at mum not to allow us out, nor to give us food or water until Sunday evening at the earliest._

_Mark had fallen down the stairs when dad shoved him, when I eventually found him he was still, his head was wet, and I knew he had hurt himself badly. I kicked and screamed at the door for hours, but all that happened was dad kicked the door and told me to shut up!_

_I heard Mark call to me, it must have been early on Saturday morning, he said he was cold. I made my way to him and wrapped him in my arms as best I could… he shivered for the longest time, and then…eventually…he stopped._

_When they opened the door on Monday morning I was still sat, holding my dead brother, covered in his blood. The doctor was called when I wouldn't let them take him from me, and he called the police, for once dad was sober, it scared the crap out of him, and he was feeling so hung over he told the truth, but they let him go, they said it was an accident and that he was 'punished enough' with the death of his child. Eventually the doc gave me an injection and put me out, we were both taken from the house, but I refused to talk to anyone for days._

_The teacher had a 'friend', they lived together, secretly… we would call him a psychiatrist or a grief councillor nowadays, the teacher picked me up from the hospital and took me to his house to see him, I stayed with them for a while and eventually I started to interact with my surroundings again, he was the one who persuaded mum to send me to my grandparents full time. He threatened my father… I don't know what with, but he eventually agreed and I moved to Minnesota._

_The kids wrote often and every summer I would come down and visit with the teacher and his friend, and keep in touch with the others, and that was when I stopped backing down to him, he would get in my face, try to throw me out of the house, but I would just ignore his existence… he hated that, but he daren't touch me any more._

_Slowly I lost touch, by the time I entered the AF academy, sponsored by my old teacher and his doctor friend, it was cards at Christmas and an occasional hour or so over a couple of weekends every year, I tried to get closer when Gracie got married, but I could tell with Michael away a lot and her staying put to 'look after mum and dad' nothing had changed, and when mum eventually died, I stopped altogether._

He shuddered, the thousand yard stare he had had in his eyes from the minute he started telling the story died, and in it's place was a man who had seen too much suffering and death in his life, and was weary of it all.

She had cried several times during the narrative, she had felt the pain of loss when her mother died, but she felt now her suffering was nothing compared to his, no matter how much Jacob had pushed her away she had known he loved her… Jack had no such solace.

She drew him to his feet, and without even thinking that they had had nothing to eat since lunch she drew him into the bedroom and into her arms, she held him all night, to let him know he was safe, and when he eventually slept, close to dawn she silently wept for him.

**OoΩoO**


	16. Chapter 16

**16**

Jack woke slowly, it was unusual for him, he was usually asleep one second and totally wide awake the next, but somehow he felt relaxed, and drifted in the in-between state, luxuriating in the feeling that he had almost forgotten.

He remembered the day before and tensed, Luke, Sam, Mark… he remembered nothing past starting to tell her about what had happened, he could only suppose that he had done his usual and blocked out the too painful part until he could sort through it later, he was a master at that!

The AF had soon realised that he was someone who could switch off his emotions, the icy calmness he exhibited had made more than one lecturer and cadet pause and back away, when usually they would have pushed to see how far they could go before he snapped.

They waited until he graduated and then used him to good effect during the late 70s and 80s, doing deeds that the average American Joe would probably not condone, but the country full of Joe's would live blissfully unaware that they owed a large chunk of their freedoms to men like him, doing distasteful things.

He had met and married Sarah during this period, and though she had thought she knew him, and that they were compatible, and happy… she was living a lie as much as he was. She only knew what he allowed her to see, and a lot of it just wasn't him… it was another cover story, designed to divert suspicion from him and his work… and it worked!

The only true part of the whole thing had been Charlie! He had loved the child with all his heart, seeing a chance at redemption for all the bad things in his life, through the innocence Charlie brought into his life. And then Charlie died, and Jack had felt, in a way, that his death was justified.

How could something so good happen to someone like him? It seemed like justice when Charlie was taken from him, just like his younger brother, who had had the same smile and laugh, the same happy attitude. Jack had failed to protect them both… it was his fault that they were dead.

But now… now he had Sam, and she had seen the darkness, and had accepted him. She knew he was capable of some terrible things, things that included being able to hurt her, if he was so ordered, as well as being able to do some despicable things he had NOT been ordered to do… Alar and the Iris, Daniel and the Gadmeer ship. And she STILL loved him!

He was just waiting for the payment to be demanded, because there was no way his life could go this well without something going wrong!

"Are you going to get up some time today?" he heard her asking from the doorway, he opened his eyes, she was beautiful, stood there, smiling at him, wearing a too large sweatshirt and a pair of cut off jeans.

"That depends, why don't you join me down here and we will discuss it!" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, she laughed, and joined him on the bed. After some light hearted play they both got up and went to the kitchen, he had been teaching her to cook for 2 years, and she STILL couldn't make pancakes! The batter was prepared so he heated the griddle and dropped a couple of spoonfulls onto the hot surface while she got out the butter and syrup, she put some bacon on the side and promptly forgot about it, which he was fine with, he liked his almost burnt.

However she made a killer cup of coffee, even better than Daniels, because she used a stronger tasting bean… or something, she had tried to explain once but he had switched off slightly… He piled the pancakes onto a plate, and rescued the extra crispy bacon, and carried both to the table, where she was busy typing onto her laptop.

"It's the weekend" he reminded her, kissing the back of her neck and making her shudder.

"I know, I just want to catch up on this stuff, Carolyn had me in the infirmary after the accident, and then I didn't want to leave because you… things sort of fell behind"

Infirmary… damn he lost it again! "I keep feeling I'm missing something important, or forgetting something" he told her, hoping she would remember what it was, if she ever knew.

However she just looked blankly at him, he shook his head, he would remember eventually.

"Any word from Jon?" he asked, she looked up.

"Jon? Jon Cohen?" she asked

"No Jon O'Neill, mini me?"

"Isn't he in Atlantis?" she asked, he realised that she hadn't been told about their discovery. He filled her in and she looked…pensive. Not what he was expecting!

"Something wrong?" he asked, she shook her head, deep in thought.

"How far does the power extend?" she asked

"Like I said, I'm not sure, we haven't tested it a lot, but yesterday I cut myself when I dest… when the laptop flew apart and it healed as I watched." She tilted her head, considering. "Here, watch" he said and leant over and drew the paring knife from the knife block, he drew the sharp small knife along his palm… blood welled up from the injury and then subsided as the incision healed, almost as fast as it had happened, it was gone.

Sam gasped and grabbed his hand, she ran a finger over the site, "and this isn't limited just to you, I mean you can really heal others?" she asked.

"No, like I said, Jon can do it, and we can work on other people, Daniel said I did something similar when I had that second download, to Bra'tac" she nodded, of course, she had been there. "Yesterday when we healed Bosworth, Jon did most of it, and I only stepped in at the end, he was exhausted, I left him in the infirmary."

"Wow, this could be… that could… hmm" she went into one of her deep thought modes, Jack loved watching her when she was thinking, all her masks dropped and he could read by the expressions that flittered across her face what she was thinking, he watched her, realising she was…sad.

"What's wrong?" he asked, breaking her thought train of thought.

"Oh, nothing…I just…" tears welled up in her eyes, he pulled her to him "I just wonder if this had happened earlier if you could have helped save…"

"Jacob?" she nodded "I don't know love, you know I would give anything to have him back" she sniffed and nodded. Jack missed the stubborn old man as well, he had had a huge respect for the guy once he had got to know him, though Sam pointed out he had mellowed a lot since his blending.

Just then Sams Cell beeped, and it threw him back to before the accident, he remembered! Carolyn had sent Sam a text… and he had never found out what it was about, he waited while she read the incoming message, she smiled.

"Here" she said and turned the phone around, without his glasses he had a hard time reading the small screens, his arms weren't long enough any more to hold small print at a readable distance. It was from Carolyn Lam, 'Captain Hailey had been visiting Jon… constantly ;-D' the text said. Jack looked puzzled, why would Carolyn text Sam with that? He dismissed it and went back to the day before the accident.

"Tuesday night…" he said "Carolyn sent you a text, something about wanting to see you?" her face blanched slightly… oh ho, this wasn't good.

"You know she has been monitoring the naquadah levels in my bloodstream, see if it was affecting the baby?" he nodded. "Well the levels in me are dropping, and as it's a mineral and not organic, it's not being replaced" She framed his face with her hands, he knew he was missing something by the serious expression on her face, but she didn't elaborate.

"So?" he asked, prompting her to explain what he did not understand.

"My body has been used to having naquadah in it for almost 9 years now Jack, somehow with all the bleeding I have done over the years, the level had stayed constant, don't ask me how, but now it's falling, the baby is absorbing it, my liver…" he stared at her in horror, panic grabbed him as he realised what she was saying. "hey it may recover!" she said, her grip on his face holding him, trying to calm him.

"How can we fix this?" he asked, "there must be something we can do!"

"I'm not sure there is, Carolyn is looking into it, but it's something totally new" she said, for a split second he hated the baby she was carrying, then he settled and realised the truth… if anything happened to her because of the baby it wasn't anybody elses fault but HIS! HE was the one who had got her pregnant! He drew back from her and stood suddenly, his chair tipped and crashed to the floor.

"We need to get you to the infirmary" he said

"There's nothing Carolyn can do" she told him, shaking her head "I won't consider a termination" he looked at her in shock, he honestly hadn't thought of it… "anyway Carolyn says the drop is so pronounced now she isn't sure a termination would help, so I'm going to keep growing our child as long as I can! Carolyn has instructions that if anything happens to me she is to deliver and do everything she can to save our baby, your healing ability maybe the difference between life and death for our child. There's a good chance of survival if I can just last another 7 or 8 weeks"

How the hell could she talk about all this so calmly? His hands shook violently, he felt as if he couldn't breath! He was going to be sick!

"Jack!" she was holding him tightly, he hadn't seen her get up, nor come towards his, it was as if he was watching a strobe light, he only got vision every so often, damn he still couldn't breath… this was HIS fault! Another person he loved was going to die because of him, maybe 2!

"We need Thor!" he said without thinking, his little buddy would help! Then he remembered that not only Thor, but his entire race had died. "What about the ancient database? The Nox? The Tok'ra?" she gently brought his face down and kissed him, stopping him from babbling. He grabbed hold of her and buried his face in her neck, oh God, he had been right earlier, he was going to lose her. His heart broke.

**OoΩoO**


	17. Chapter 17

**17**

He rushed from the car park to the tunnel entrance, a group of SFs were stood dead centre of the opening, enjoying an illegal cigarette break. One of them, taller by a head than any of the others deliberately moved into the path of the oncoming man.

Jack side stepped him and moved past as if the man wasn't even there. The SF wasn't pleased to be brushed aside, especially not in front on his new squad and he ran to catch the man up.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! Where's the fire" the young buck said, trying to stop Jack with an outstretched arm to his chest.

The SF was left behind, on his knees nursing a broken wrist, Jack didn't even slow as he continued on his journey.

Once through the checkpoints and into the SGC he travelled to level 21 and strode down the corridor, everyone down there knew him and got out of the way as fast as possible when they saw his face.

Carolyn, Hank, Jennifer Hailey and Jon were all waiting for him when he arrived, did everyone in the world know except him? Why hadn't he been told as soon as possible?

Jon was the first to say something. "Jack… they just told me" his voice broke and Jack could hear tears in it, he nodded his acceptance and then spun towards the person who should have told him.

"Doctor Lam?" he rasped. He saw her wince at the use of her full name and title.

"General O'Neill" she nodded "Sam asked me not to tell you, she said she would do it… I have to do what my patient wishes"

"NOT WHEN IT'S MY WIFE!" he screamed at her, he moved towards her, for the first time in his life he felt like hitting a woman in temper, Jon got between them, they struggled… Jon knew every move Jack did, and he had the advantage of youth, but Jack also weighed more and was very angry.

"I can't…hold him" Jon said between gritted teeth, suddenly Jack was grabbed from behind, he turned his head to see a bunch of SFs, one cradling an injured wrist and two others holding him by an arm each. There were three others by the door, evidently they had followed the first three.

"JACK!" Hank shouted in his face "You have to calm down! If you attack Carolyn I'll have you thrown into the brig!" Jacks eyes snapped to Hanks face, and whatever the other man saw made him back away.

"He should be in the brig anyway, he's a madman" the SF with the injury came forward, "he barrelled through the entrance and when I tried to slow him the bastard broke my wrist! I want to press charges!"

"The man just found out his wife and child may be dying" Jon spat at the SF "Think yourself lucky, if he was thinking instead of on autopilot, he would have snapped your neck"

Jack heard the SFs behind him mumbling, and while they were distracted he took the opportunity to get lose. He left both men who had been holding him on the floor groaning while he walked over to the doctors office and sat down in the visitors chair. Jon and Hank followed him in, and closed the door behind them, Jack could see Carolyn directing her staff, helping the SFs up and examining the broken wrist.

"I never even saw them" he said, gesturing to the men outside

"I know" Jon said, Jack knew he did, many a time his 'autopilot' had saved his life, it was a part of the retreating from emotion, or allowing himself to be overwhelmed by it, that he hated most, he was an out-of-control yet ultra-controlled killing machine when he allowed it to take over.

"What can we do?" he asked.

"I've already contacted McKay and Doctor Keller on Atlantis, they're going through the ancient database, it's slow because since the gene therapy failed every time they get a locked system they have to have Sheppard or one of the others come and unlock it, but I've told John to stick by him until we get an answer. Hank has sent a message to the Free Jaffa and to the last known Tok'ra base, but we have not heard from them in a long time." Jack nodded, he knew, the last time anyone had seen a Tok'ra had been at Jacobs funeral, though rumours and messages had been exchanged through third parties.

"We were going to send out SG3, there were rumours that a sarcophagus could be found on one of the trading planets, but Vala managed to get through the 'gate about 25 minutes ago, as soon as Sam let us know you were coming, we think she has gone to see if it is real."

"Can't we…" he gestured to both Jon and himself "do anything?"

"Do what Jack?" the young man said "How do we get a mineral to bond to her bloodstream? You know I would do anything for Carter, but I wouldn't know where to start… we may be able to stave off some of the damage to her organs, but it is only a stopgap, not a solution"

Carolyn entered the office. She moved through the cramped space and sat behind her desk, she looked at Jack sympathetically. "I have Sams records here" she put her hand on a huge folder "I have been looking over the blood tests since she was infected by Jolinar, sometimes she has shown a remarked drop, in fact at one point her naquadah levels were even lower than they are now" Jack looked up hopefully "But it didn't last long, she recovered to a 'normal' level quite quickly"

"When?" he asked, he saw her frown "When did they fall?"

She opened the folder and took out a sheet from the top, he could see a list of dates and numbers. "In…2001, September, she had been kidnapped and experimented on" Both Jack and Jon shuddered at the memory of finding her.

"Conrad"

"Simmons" they shared a satisfied look that both men were dead

"So she lost a large amount of her naquadah then?" Jack asked

"Yes, but she had recovered almost 90 of the lost amount by her first post mission physical, even though her pre-mission still one showed the low level"

"So something happened the next time we went offworld?" Jack tried to remember back.

"We were on earth for some time after that, so Carter could recover, it was when Martin Lloyd contacted the SGC, then after that we were assigned to training" Jon pointed out.

"Yes but she didn't have a post mission physical after either of those"

"Then it was after we had been through to P3X-116" Jon said

"Tanith" Jack stated. "But we didn't do anything on that planet!"

"You must have" Carolyn insisted "Something you did on that mission restored the balance of naquadah in Sams bloodstream, think!" She leaned forward on the desk as if to encourage them, Jack didn't need her to push him, he had every reason in the world to find a solution, but there wasn't one!

"We went through to the planet, it looked deserted…" Jack said

"We went over the hills to the south of the 'gate…" Jon continued

"There was a LOT of Jaffa movement, about 2000 we estimated…"

"There was a Ha'tak vessel on the ground, death gliders were just launching…"

"We turned around and ran as fast as we damn well could, and Daniel, Sam and I came through just in time…"

"Teal'c got stuck in the 'gate system…"

Carolyn held up her hand, stopping the double act. "Ok that's as far as we need, the medical was within an hour of your return, before you worked on getting Teal'c out of the 'gate" she said. "So how long were you on the planet?"

Both men thought and simultaneously answered "30 minutes… tops"

"And Colonel Carter wasn't separated from you at any time? She didn't collect soil or mineral samples?" She sighed as both men shook their heads. "I can't understand it" she said.

The phone rang on her desk, she picked it up and handed her father the receiver. "Landry" he said and listened for a second "Put him through… Yes Colonel… yes… yes… he's here with me… no, that's OK, look go tell Colonel Carter and then bring her into the base…thank you" he put the phone down and glared at Jack.

"THAT was the security detail…the ones you aren't supposed to be without… remember? It seems they have 'lost' you" Both O'Neills grinned, Jack sheepishly, Hank shook his head "We have orders to keep you safe Jack… and you Jon, if either of you leave the mountain you WILL take an escort and you WILL NOT try to give them the slip!"

"I never tried to give them the slip!" Jack protested "I was just in a hurry to get here, Carter coming in?" Hank nodded "Maybe she will remember something" he and Jon shared a look, they knew there was nothing to remember, the trip to P3X-116 had somehow caused Sam to absorb naquadah, now if they could only find out HOW!

**OoΩoO**


	18. Chapter 18

**18**

Sam arrived, not pleased at all with Jacks storming out of the house. She knew he was blaming himself, but truth be told, even though she wasn't showing any outward symptoms she was feeling tired and could not have chased him up the mountain. She had retreated to their room and laid down, hoping he would return soon.

The security escort onto the base she saw as him being over protective and over reacting, and it took some fancy talking by Hank to get her to realise that they had not been sent just to pick her up, but Jacks detail, that he had left behind!

They moved to the briefing room, Carolyns office just wasn't big enough for everyone, for some reason Jack didn't understand Sam had dragged Jennifer Hailey into the meeting as well, Bill Lee and his bunch of geeks and the doctor in charge of the medical research team (Jack couldn't remember his name) were both attending 'virtually' their faces and comments on computer screens on the table, they all had copies of the medical notes and the mission reports.

Sam looked through her copy of the notes Carolyn had made, and recounted the mission exactly the same as Jack and Jon had. She examined the levels over the years, wondering why she had been so constant at certain times when by rights she should have been low.

"Look here!" she pointed at a blood test in 2004 everyone leaned forwards to see what she was indicating "I know I lost a hell of a lot of blood then, hell I needed at least 2 pints when I got back, the gash on my leg bled for hours."

Carolyn worked through the file to get the relevant medical reports, Jon frowned "I don't remember that!" he said

"That was after you were… created" Jack reminded him, he told the youth about the Alpha site and the Kull warrior chasing Sam all over the area.

Carolyn pulled out several sheets of paper, Jon winced when he saw a photograph of the damage Sam had sustained "Damn I hope he looked after you well when you did that!" he said, Jack looked at his shoes and Sam blushed "What?" he asked

"She was going out with the cop" he said, Jon nodded, his face bleak… he understood why Jack had allowed Sam to go for what she seemed to want, of course he did, he was the same person, he understood everything Jack did. What he just couldn't understand was how someone like her could hook up with such a miserable loser! The man had made every single decision in the so called relationship, he had overridden all her wishes, as well as showing a remarkable lack of trust!

"So… you lost a lot of blood" Jon said Carolyn jumped in to the gap.

"According to this Sam needed two pints immediately and also received a pint of plasma and a pint of saline over the first 24 hours post mission" she sorted through the print outs and report sheets "And her naquadah level was 'normal' throughout!"

"I don't get it" Jack said "it isn't even as if the planets were alike, well not near the 'gate, 116 was dessert, and the alpha site was in the middle of a temperate zone forest" he said, Sam called up the specs on both planets, there wasn't a lot in common apart from the fact that they could both sustain human life, like the majority of the planets that had 'gates.

"Look!" Jennifer said, pointing to the most recent test, which had been attached to the sheet with a staple as it had come in after Carolyn had printed the others out. It showed a marked increase, but not enough to combat the recent loss. "I know what it is!" she declared jumped to her feet and grabbed Sam by the arm.

"What?" Jack said, Sam tried to stop herself being dragged along but for such a small woman Hailey was very strong.

"Trust me!" Hailey said as she dragged Sam down stairs.

"Sgt. Let me onto the dialling computer!" she shouted, pulling Sam down the steps. Jack nodded to Walter, and he moved over, Jennifers hands danced on the keys and before anyone could see what she had input she grabbed Sam and dragged her down onto the 'gate level, she snatched a GDO up from the cabinet in the corner as they watched the chevrons engage.

"Hey wait… don't we need to get weapons or anything?" Jack said to the diminutive woman

"No time!" she said "Every second may count" Jack agreed, explanations could wait, she wouldn't dial a dangerous world and go through without weapons, so it had to be somewhere 'safe' that they were headed.

As soon as the wormhole was established Jennifer headed for the event horizon "Come on!" she said, running up the ramp, Sam and Jack looked at each other and went through the wormhole.

They stepped out into the Land of Light, an SG team had moved the 'gate to the lighter side of the terminator on Tuplo's request years ago. The 'dark' side forest was just 40 yards behind them as they looked around.

"Now what?" Jack asked, Hailey went to the DHD and started dialling again, Jack and Sam moved away from the danger zone and as soon as Hailey nodded they walked back into the blue puddle, they found themselves in the SGC.

"What the hell was all that about?" Jack asked, he was getting angry now. He never wanted to be baffled with science but he DID want to know what was happening!

"I bet if you run a blood test now the reading is normal, or close to it!" Hailey said, Jack fumed and Hailey must have realised how close he was to losing his temper. "It's 'Gate travel!" she said as if that explained it all.

Jack looked at Sam who looked stunned for a while and then suddenly her face lit up, like she had just found the theory of relativity for the first time.

"Of course it is!" she said and she grabbed the small woman and pulled her into a bone cracking hug.

"SOMEONE EXPLAIN!" Jack shouted, Sam put her hand on his arm to calm him as she and Hailey led him to the briefing room.

"The 'gate system detects that I have naquadah in my bloodstream when it scans me as it demoleculorises me, when it puts me back together, naquadah being the element it is, it draws a minute amount, from either the 'gate itself or from the native surroundings, and 'tops me up'"

"So why didn't you ever get too much in your system all those times you went through and was not injured or low on it?" Jack asked.

"I probably just excreted the extra naturally" she said "like you do with most things you build up in your system that you don't need"

They reached the briefing room and Carolyn listened to Jennifers explanation. "Could it be that simple?" she asked "let's go down to the infirmary and run the test" she said, everyone trouped down and Sam rolled up her sleeve so the doctor could draw the blood, Jack looked around, for once Siler wasn't in a bed, the SF from earlier was though and he glared at Jack, Jack shrugged his shoulders, he didn't care one way or the other if the man decided to go ahead with the charges. Though he did feel slightly guilty that he had broken his wrist, he shouldn't have tried interfering with someone who was obviously in a hurry.

"Ok" Carolyn said, marking the vial with Sams details, I'll just run this down to the lab myself, it's going to take at least an hour, you lot going to wait here until I come back?" everyone nodded and she left.

"So what's going to happen if this has worked?" Jon said

"First I'll kick myself for allowing the USAF to convince me that Carter shouldn't be allowed to go offworld!" Jack said, watching as his wife settled down on the bed. He had been so worried about the thought of losing her he had left her behind as he stormed out of the house, and he realised that that had been the last thing she had needed when she was feeling ill. He had some serious apologising to do later.

He moved next to her and brushed the hair away from her face, she leaned into his touch, her eyes opened and fixed on his, and she gave him a sweet smile, but he could see the weariness behind the expression.

"You get some sleep" he told her and he waved the others towards Carolyns office, where they could talk without disturbing her.

"I'm worried about the long term effects, Dr. Lam seemed to think that she was about to develop liver failure, even if we restore the naquadah I aren't sure it would reverse the liver damage, it's been going on for months" Jennifer said "She could go on a donor list, but with the baby…" Jack closed his eyes… it was still possible that he would lose her, or even both.

"STOP IT!" Jons harsh voice cut through his thoughts. His gaze fixed on the knowing eyes identical to his own. "You know it isn't your fault! Stop trying to heap the guilt on!" He couldn't deny it… not to the being stood in front of him, but he also couldn't help the fact that he honestly believed it WAS his fault. The irony of the two totally conflicting statements both being absolutely true, did not pass him by. They were irreconcilable, but they WERE both true!

He scrubbed his face with his hands, he was tired. It had been a traumatic week.

"We will see what the tests say and if Carter is in any danger we see if WE can do anything, there are other options than falling into a blue funk" He was right, if they could heal Bosworth then why shouldn't they be able to heal Sam?

Jack leant back in the chair and closed his eyes, just for a second…

**OoΩoO**


	19. Chapter 19

**19**

"Jack, come on… Jack" he woke slowly, damn he was still tired, and he ached… not surprising when he realised he had been asleep in Carolyns chair. His back was sooo going to make him pay for that, probably for a week!

He looked at the blonde beauty who stood over him, calling his name, and he remembered!

He shot to his feet and pulled her into his arms. "Has she got the blood test results?" he asked.

"Yes she has" Sam laughed, "the naquadah is almost back to normal, we figure one more trip and it should be 'full', General Landry has it scheduled for Monday when you're off on your jaunt." He shook his head.

"No we do this together" he said, unwilling for her to visit even a 'safe' planet like Tuplos without a proper escort. "We can go before I leave on Monday, or even right now"

"Carolyn wants us to go home and rest, she's going to run some liver function tests on Monday so she thought it would be better if we wait until then." He nodded and pulled her tightly to him and kissed her thouroughly.

"And how are you feeling?" he asked, when he at last came up for air.

"Strangely I feel a lot better, I wouldn't have thought that I would feel the difference so quick but I do." He kissed her again, if he lost her now… after all these years, he doubted he could survive. He wouldn't be suicidal, he would just die, he knew he would.

"Let's get out of here" she whispered, they turned to the infirmary, and there in the doorway was an armed detail.

As Jack approached the Colonel stiffened to attention. "Sir!" he said, Jack waved him down, he hated all the saluting and stuff. "Orders, Sir, you are not to be unaccompanied at any time, it's for your own safety"

"Oh fer cryin' out loud!" Jack exclaimed and then he heard someone else.

"He should be in the brig" the young man whose wrist Jack had broken spoke up, and then he quailed as the whole detail glared at him.

"Don't worry about him" Jack said "He's upset because he got in my way" any sympathy he had felt for the young man had evapourated with his ongoing rancour.

"He got in your way sir?" the SF said, Jack nodded "And you only broke his wrist?"

"I was in a hurry" Jack said, the Colonel nodded.

"You would have to be not to kill him" he glared at the patient. "In future find out who you are dealing with BEFORE you act" he instructed.

"All I see is someone so used to power he gets away with things like this" the man waved his bandaged wrist.

Jack realised he wasn't in uniform, of course he had been enjoying a day off when he had stormed to the mountain, the young man had no idea who he was, not that that mattered, he shouldn't have interfered when it was obvious that Jack was going through, especially as he had already passed 2 security points to get to the place the man tried to interfere with him.

"You want to press charges son you go ahead" Jack said "I will plead guilty for breaking your wrist, after all I did do it" The young man looked astonished. But Jack was, quite honestly, not bothered, he would do it again if he had to, and no one who knew him could doubt it.

"Jack" Sam looked worried, he was past caring about his career though. All he cared about was keeping her safe, keeping their baby safe, and keeping the world safe, he could do that just as well as a Colonel as he could a General… the stars didn't mean that much to him. He dismissed the youth from his thoughts and turned to the officer.

"So Major, you're babysitting?" the Colonel nodded, still casting nasty glances at the young SF. "That mean I'm piloting you to Nellis on Monday and the Gulf later?"

"If you're going sir, then yes. Orders, you understand"

Jack nodded "And what about if we go through the 'gate?" he asked

"I don't have any orders concerning that Sir, is it likely?"

"I will be going through on Monday at the latest, but it will be less than 5 minutes, it's just a check. How about Jon?"

"Jon sir?"

"Yes, I understand he is to have a party too?"

The youth in question burst into the infirmary "You see what you've done to me, old man!" he shouted, gesturing, Jack grinned as a Major and 2 Lieutenants followed the young man.

"Jon" Jack said waving an introduction to the Colonel at his side. "meet MY babysitters"

"I don't need protection fer cryin' out loud!" the youth protested, "It's not like I'm head of Homeworld Security!"

"Colonel O'Neill!" Hank strode down the corridor… damn the infirmary was becoming the briefing room! "Under orders from the President of the United states you WILL accept an armed escort where ever you go on Earth, for your own protection, and Lieutenant General O'Neill you will too"

Both of them looked at each other guiltily, "Hey! Wait a minute" Jack said "Hank I outrank you"

"Do as your told Jack or I'm under orders to have you arrested and transported to DC" Jack cringed, he knew when he was beaten, if they got him to DC they wouldn't let him escape again.

"Ok, OK" he said. "You got somewhere to stay?" he asked Jon.

"If this is the reception I'm going to get then I think I'll go home" he replied. "Thanks God the Asgard gave us the technology for a power source that can power intergalactic wormholes. Call if you need anything, especially if it's to do with Carter" he smiled at Sam "You look after yourself and this grumpy old man" he said, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"Come on then kids, you can see me off" Jon turned on his heels and walked away. His escort ran after him.

"Remind me again why I asked Thor to save his life?" Jack said, Sam giggled. "Come on, let's go" they exited the infirmary and the escort fell in behind. At least he didn't have to walk all the way across the car park now, there was the car, already by the entrance to the mountain, the detail split, 2 following in a jeep and one getting into the front of the car with the driver. Jack sighed… Sam snuggled into his side.

Oh yeah, there WERE some advantages, he thought… he would have had trouble driving if she kept that up… thankfully she did!

**OoΩoO**

Sunday passed quietly, Sam was still tired and Jack was still a little put out that no one had told him about the problem as soon as he had recovered.

He wanted to point out that once he had been told it had only taken a few hours to get people together and find a solution, but he didn't want to upset Sam, she was so used to being the one who solved everything herself, he felt if he pointed it out it would be like rubbing her nose in the fact that Jennifer Hailey had solved it.

Personally he wouldn't have cared if Ba'al had solved it, or even Adria…as long as it was solved and she lived!

Monday morning arrived and Jack reluctantly dressed in his full Class A uniform. Sam came behind him as he looked in the mirror, checking that his ribbons were all straight.

"You know… there's just something about you in this uniform" she told him, "I felt it that first day when I walked into the briefing room, and you have only improved since" she ran her hands down his chest… he loved the way she reacted when he wore the suit, he just wished that the only reason he had to wear it was for her reaction… he hated the damn thing, the collar was too stiff, it felt like a noose, and the coat was heavy, and almost always too warm for where he was. And the trousers! Well they were tailored of course, leaving him very little room to expand!

"Tuplos going to wonder what's going on if you arrive in full diplomatic gear" she said, he could almost see a light bulb appear above his head!

"Oh! Good point, I'll change to BDUs before we go through." He said, happy that at least part of the day he could be comfortable, and as she would be in the infirmary afterwards he may even sneak out in them.

'Wait a minute' he pulled himself up 'who's the damn General here?' he squashed the rebellious thought immediately, he knew it had nothing to do with rank, he was whipped, any tiny thing Sam wanted, Sam got, even if it was him in the monkey suit!

They stepped out of the house and within 2 minutes the official car, with escort, pulled up, he could have notified the detail but he was feeling petty so decided to see how long it would take them! He wondered where they had parked. They had to have been close, but he hoped he wasn't going to get another letter from the residents association about clogging up the street with armed men in armoured cars… like he had after that debacle with Ba'al and his clones in Seattle, back then his escort was a full platoon, 36 men and 2 officers! All of them sworn to secrecy because of his visits… he doubted the young First Lieutenant had even now told anyone that he had a wife, the young man had been in such awe of him!

Jack smiled as he opened the door for Sam, before the young driver could get around. She scooted over so he could lower into the near seat and as soon as he was settled she scooted back, so she was almost on his lap… and of course she was purring. He felt a twitch… damn woman, she knew these trousers were too damn tight! He glared at her, but it softened into a smile when she looked at him through her lashes… oh yeah, totally whipped!

**OoΩoO**


	20. Chapter 20

**20**

Jennifer, Daniel, Teal'c, Jane Flynn, the security detail and of course Jack and Sam were stood at the base of the ramp, Jack met Hanks eye and Hank gave the order to dial up. They passed through the event horizon smoothly and within 3 minutes were back in the room.

One of his security men had to be helped to the nearest head, two trips so quickly for someone who reacted badly was cruel, but Jack wasn't about to hang around in the Land of Light for him to recover before they returned, the last thing he needed was one of Tuplos magnificent feasts first thing in a morning, and the guy would definitely insisted on one if they had been caught. Especially as Melosia had just given birth to his first grand children, triplets!

Carolyn was waiting as they returned, and she told them, as they walked to the infirmary, that the preliminary tests she had run had already shown a marked improvement of liver function, the tests she still had to run though would say whether there was any permanent damage.

Jack went with her to the infirmary, glad to see the young SF wasn't there, he smiled at the person who was.

"Hey Siler!" he waved, Siler would have probably jumped to his feet for any other officer but he knew Jacks standing orders and so he grinned and waved back, with his good hand.

"Now I'll be back before time to go home" he said, kissing her cheek "you just do what the doctor tells you to" she smiled, and relaxed on the bed as a nurse drew some blood.

Jack indicated with his head and stepped into Carolyns office, she followed him and he closed the door. The second the door shut behind her his mask of friendly amiability dropped.

"I am only going to say this once, You WILL tell me everything you find out, I don't care how much Sam wants to protect me, her protection almost cost the life of her and the baby! If we had known sooner then we could have found the solution sooner. If you have a problem following this order tell me now, because I will have you replaced before I leave this morning"

Carolyns usually swarthy complexion paled and then darkened in embarrassment as he spoke, he was deadly serious and she knew it. She swallowed several times before she could speak. "Colonel Carter has already told me to tell you everything sir, and she has given me a written and witnessed statement to that effect. You have to understand though I was only…" Jack held his hand up and closed his fingers, he didn't want to know.

He was past angry with the woman, and only the fact that she and Sam had become friends and Sam wanted her as her doctor had prevented him from getting rid of her already. SHE had jeopardised his wife and child. He knew it was on Sams orders, and he knew it wasn't entirely fair to blame her when he couldn't blame Sam, but he knew what Sam was doing when she hadn't told him… and why. He didn't make the same allowance for the woman in front of him, and by the way she was avoiding his gaze he guessed that the anger he felt was easily visible.

He cleared his face and put back the professional mask he had worn for so many years and he stepped out of the room, he knew Sam would see through it so he just waved as he passed by her bed and marched out of the infirmary.

He got to ground level, his escort stuck firmly to his heels, and found Teal'c and the family waiting for him.

"O'Neill, I understand you are to be piloting today" the Jaffa warrior said, Jack nodded, his temper still close to the surface. "May I suggest you take Captain Flynn with you on this journey?" Jack thought about it, it was true he had been surprised when T had brought Jane along that morning, but he was also pushing for her to go on his recruiting jaunts?

Hell why not? He nodded and T inclined his head and exited the tunnel, followed by the rest of the AGs, perfectly in step behind him.

"After you" Jack said, looking at his niece. She shot him a panicked look and approached the craft, that had been uncovered in preparation for the journey. Jack was pleased when the back door lowered and she stepped inside, he hadn't had to tell her what to think… she seemed to be a natural!

**OoΩoO**

Jack piloted the craft, the security detail sat on the comfortable benches in the back and Jane had second seat. The act of flying, even in the puddle jumper calmed him. He loved flying! Even with the lack of physical feedback involved with the ancient technology he felt complete in the air as he rarely did on the ground.

Several times he caught flickers of screens popping up on her side of the windshield and he told her to go ahead, learn the systems. The jumper automatically didn't interfere with his view as she asked for and received data on the atmosphere, on the geography and the craft, the flight only took 40 minutes, very slow for the puddle jumper, but he wasn't in any hurry, he knew the craft was capable of going to the limit of the solar system in a day! He wanted to enjoy the ride though!

As they landed, in the underground hanger, Jack got out of his seat and opened the back doors with his mind, the SFs looked suitably impressed with the machine, in fact one of them was running his hands down the sides as if petting a horse, there was a man who probably named his car!

Jack jumped out, Jane and the detail followed him and soon he was threading his way through the parked VTOL craft that the hanger was usually used for.

As he approached the doors to the hanger, that led to familiar looking corridors, he was met by the chief in charge of the maintenance of the craft.

"Who's the pilot?" he asked, Jack put his hand up, much to the mans surprise…it wasn't every day a General piloted anything! "Need someone to go over your bird?" he asked. Jack smiled at him, wondering what the hell he could do to the puddle jumper. Usually every plane that was flown had a complete inspection afterwards, and it was the chiefs job to assign a crew to do it. Jack shook his head.

"No thanks Chief. It'll be OK until we return to base, just keep your people away from it will you, classified" he looked back, he could already see a problem, the craft was flush with the floor and could be seen from quite a distance away, he gestured to Jane and she approached him "Go back to the jumper, and tell it to go stealth, if that doesn't work think 'invisible'" he said in a low voice, she looked at him and then nodded and headed back the way they had come. Jack saw the craft 'disappear' and turned to the chief.

"Actually chief, this shouldn't take too long, keep all your people out of here until I say otherwise, and get me the base CO on the com"

Jack was handed a com unit and spoke to the one star General in charge of the base, telling him that he was locking the hanger because of the nature of his craft and ordering the security tapes to be destroyed, without anyone seeing them first!

He then entered the dull grey corridors that so closely resembled the SGC and made his way to the surface, and into the commissary for a coffee, before going for the operations briefing room.

He surveyed the 22 people in front of him, he reckoned at least half of them were under 30 years of age, a good thing considering the long term nature of the work they were going to be employed in.

He introduced himself, ignoring the others of his party and gave the same reason for testing as Sam had invented for the family.

He ordered people to get into rank, not bothered about who was in which service, and Jane produced a clipboard from somewhere, she wrote each persons name, rank, service and occupation down as they approached her, and then she filled in their AG rank as Jack tested each and told her.

At the end of the 22 Jack surveyed the results. As was expected, most of them were 2s, luckily they only had one level 1, and that was an older Army Colonel, so they dismissed him immediately.

Of them all Jack was most pleased with a young navy Lieutenant, she was about 21 years of age, fresh from her academy, and had already done quite well as an engineer aboard her ship, she also tested as a 4, the first 4 outside the family.

There were 8 level 3s, 3 of whom were AF, 3 army 1 navy and 1 marine. The rest of them, the level 2s, were split between the forces, with only 4 of them being AF, Jack dismissed the other level 2s, with the 'don't say anything about this meeting and you will be contacted at a later date if needed'. He knew they would all be needed, but he was hoping that he would be able to find more 3s in the gulf.

That meant that the 'second class' of recruits would consist of 13 people, though he was tempted to put Lt. Whitaker into the family group, he was not sure if it would be the best idea.

He gave them all orders to report to Cheyenne Mountain by the following Monday and contacted each of their COs to confirm their reassignment.

When he got hold of the Captain of the young womans ship he met resistance, the man didn't want to release her, his promising rising star. Especially as they were due to sail on the morning tide.

It took Jack and the Coms officer at the base some time to set up a conference with the Navy CoS, but eventually Jack won, as he knew he would, and he insisted on her returning to the SGC with him immediately, rather than fly back to Hawaii where her ship was currently in port. He had a feeling if she returned she would 'accidently' go with the ship, he had met commanders like the Captain before.

He ordered her cabin packed and shipped, she should be fine with what they could scrounge up for her in the mean time, and he would send her into town with Jennifer and Sam for some civvies and necessities until her stuff arrived. He had a feeling the Captain wasn't going to hurry transporting her things.

He dismissed the meeting, reminding everyone they had a week to pack and report, ready for duty, on the Monday following, and he, his security detail and Jane and the young Lieutenant, went back to the hanger.

The SFs looked puzzled as they approached the empty space where they knew the craft had parked, an Jack watched them and the young woman closely as he 'thought' the craft visible, two of the SFs almost drew their weapons, Jack made a note, when they were finished baby sitting him, these two would be good for SG team members, the young Naval officer was wide eyed… she recovered fine but Jack wasn't too pleased at her reaction time. He would give her the benefit of the doubt for now, see what Teal'c could do with her.

**OoΩoO**


	21. Chapter 21

**21**

Sams tests proved that though there had been damage it was possible that her liver function would return totally to normal and the damage would repair itself. Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the verdict. Carolyn couldn't seem to get away from him fast enough, he could live with that.

He noticed Sams face though as the woman left, and he wasn't sure he could live with THAT. But she smiled at him and they walked out of the mountain, the security detail along for the ride as usual.

They got home before she allowed her ire to show. "What did you say to Carolyn?" she asked, her voice tight.

"What did she say?" he asked, trying to avoid admitting to anything he didn't really have to, she just looked at him and he sighed, he wasn't going to be able to avoid it, so he repeated what he had said to Carolyn and watched as Sam grew angry.

"JACK! You know she hadn't got a choice, especially when I told her specifically not to say anything!"

"You know it doesn't work like that at the SGC Sam" he said "This was a problem involving 'gate travel, and you know as well as anyone that anything that happens in there has to be reported. We could have avoided a lot of worry and pain if we had known earlier, you risked everything just to try and protect me!" he was shouting by the end, and he realised what he had said as he saw Sam blanch.

He cursed himself, he had promised he wouldn't blame her, and there he was shouting at her. She put her head into her hands and he dropped to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms, as she cried.

Sam almost never cried, and it always shocked him when she did. She was always so brave and… together, that when her emotions surfaced like that it was always overwhelming. Most women looked red and puffy when they cried but Sam looked beautiful, Jack kissed the tears from her cheeks, trying to apologise for what he had said.

Eventually she raised her head and sniffed, he handed her a tissue, and she dried her eyes. "I'm sorry" he said, she smiled at him

"I think that's what I should have said" Sam sniffed again "I didn't mean to hide it, I was going to tell you, but then you had your accident, and I wanted to make sure you were over that, and you healed… and I just…" he nodded, he understood her reasons, that's why he had been determined not to have a go at her.

They had dinner and went to bed early, with luck the other recruitment meetings would go as smoothly and he and Sam could settle to a regular routine, including the 'gate travel that she would need.

**OoΩoO**

Jack spent several hours that night concentrating his thoughts on his wife, as his large hands hovered over the area in which her liver was situated. He felt a sort of feedback at one point, and the drain of energy after it made him hope that he had had a positive effect.

He woke the next morning shattered, but at the same time happier than he had been for days. He realised he had known something was wrong, she was tired and listless at times… he had put it down to the pregnancy, he cursed himself, he should have acted on his instincts.

The trip up the mountain was quiet, the security detail ensuring that the journey was smooth, and Jack cursed when he entered his office and found his inbox overflowing. His staff were good, but they couldn't make the paperwork all disappear.

He was called to the infirmary at midday, and almost ran the whole way, only to find out that it was nothing at all to do with Sam.

Simon Wallace was there, looking over the DNA charts of several people, he had an idea, sort of like the one Jack had had. He wanted to bring in a genealogist, and trace the family trees of the people who had tested as level 3s or 4s.

Jack made notes, he wasn't sure there was anyone with high enough security clearance, but then, he had been surprised when he had found out the AF had anthropologists on the payrole as well.

Teal'c contacted him in his office to say he had spent the morning evaluating the new young lieutenant, and that in his opinion she needed a lot of work. Nothing that surprised Jack, he had thought as much, he made a note that she should not be included in the 'family class' he wasn't sure if she should be included in any as most of the others he would meet were already combat trained officers. He sighed and put the problem to one side. He needed to meet the others and see what they had first.

Juan reported that the meeting he had asked to be moved up to Friday had been arranged, so he would go to the gulf then. He arranged for a car to pick Sam up the next day as he and his sitters would be going to Peterson instead.

Jack read and sorted and signed the papers in his in box throughout the day… he had noticed that if he was not in the office that when he returned he always had a full box… but when he WAS in the office the box never emptied. He wondered what happened to the 50 odd things he 'had to deal with' when he wasn't there to deal with them?

All in all he was bored, he studied the plans for NORAD, glad to see that for once in the military things were ahead of schedule. He assigned more space to the lower classification studies from the SGC and allocated the entire floor of living quarters to the civilian staff from the labs. That freed up quarters on the SGC levels for team members.

He sent a memo to Hank about it, and received one back within minutes thanking him. He fielded a couple of calls from POTUS and signed out at 1800, pleased to note his desk was clear. He knew the next time he saw it it would be full again, but at least nowadays he managed to catch up sometimes!

**OoΩoO**

He went to Peterson the next morning, 'accidently' he had forgotten to bring his dress blues home, so he wore the BDUs he had come home in after his accident. Sam frowned at him but he saw her into her car and waved off her offer to send down his uniform.

He was well known at Peterson, and had no trouble at all sailing through the security gates, the operations briefing room looked exactly like the one at Nellis had… the military was nothing if not standardised.

As it happened out of the 14 people in the room only 1 was an AF officer, and he tested as a 3, three other 3s were all marines, which shot the 'advanced' theory out of the water in Jack's opinion, one 3 was Army and the rest were 2s. He gave the usual orders and spent the afternoon tracking down and talking to the various COs of the people he had appropriated.

**OoΩoO**

Thursday he OKd the inclusion of a Doctor from the university of Michigan who was a world leader in genealogy to be brought in, and he gave as much detail as he knew of the O'Neill side of the family, leaving the others to fill in the O'Brian side, Wallace had discovered that the gene was actually mitochondrial and so it was from his mothers side, which boded well as she had had only sisters, there may be quite a few more gene holders out there, and as Atlantis was a joint military and civilian operation they may be willing to employ people with the gene as specialists.

The IOA had instigated a genetic scan of all the armed forces of the international agreement, so far only the British and Russians had started scanning their databases for AGs, but there was hope that…especially in the British forces, lots more would be found. The French military were stalling, the scuttlebutt was that they didn't have a DNA database to check, the Chinese had still not decided if it was worth risking the lives of their citizens, of all the IOA members, China was the only one not to request a team for their people to go through the 'gate, content to reap the rewards while taking none of the risk. Jack wished the Russians felt the same way!

Carolyn contacted him at 1400, she had sent Sam home, as she was showing signs of fatigue, instead of rushing home as he wanted to he forced himself to finish his workload. He did sign out early, at 1600, and travelled straight home.

He found her asleep on the sofa, dark rings around her eyes told him she was having more problems than he had suspected, he had to keep reminding himself that after all she was over 42 years of age and having her first child. His mother had had all six of her children by the age of 30.

He made dinner and waited until it was almost ready before waking her, she washed her face and came to the table looking guilty. They were both silent through dinner, after he had cleared the table, ready for her turn to wash up, he took her hand.

"Sam…" he started, unsure how to say it, he decided to just be plain and come out with what he was thinking "I really think you should cut down your workload" he said, he winced, hoping she wasn't going to take it the wrong way. He saw tears gather in her eyes.

"I know" she said, lowering her head "but other women cope! In Asia…"

"We aren't in Asia Sam, and if we were you would have had 20 kids by now." He had heard the 'they have the baby at the side of the field and go back to work' line enough times from chauvinists, "how many of them women have spent almost 15 years saving the planet? How many have gone through the stresses you have?" he asked, he pulled her to her feet, and buried his face in her neck.

"Carolyn has recommended to General Landry that I be limited to three days a week, no more than 6 hours a day" she sighed, he felt relief flow through him.

"Good, look it won't be forever" he said, smoothing his hand over the now discernable bulge of her stomach, he had been thrilled when at long last she had started to show, he was sure Sarah had been bigger, earlier, but then she also hadn't had quite as active a life as Sam did.

He longed for the time he could feel the child kick… everything up to that point was really just mental, once he could feel the child react that would be when he would truly accept the new life.

"I just feel as if… I feel I should be able to do more" she said, tears at last breaking free and running down her cheeks, he could tell it was the exhaustion and hormones causing it, he swung her up into his arms, again noticing that he didn't get a single twinge from his knees or his back… not that he would have cared if he had… he carried her into their bedroom, he lay her on the bed and wrapped them both in the duvet while he held her. He intended to get up soon, to do the dishes and leave her to rest until bed time when he would wake her to get changed. He fell asleep next to her and knew nothing until the next day.

**OoΩoO**


	22. Chapter 22

**22**

He hated waking up in his clothes, after all the years of spending days on end without changing, while captured or on a hostile world, he felt that he should always undress for sleep. He leaned over and slapped the annoying alarm clock that was buzzing its message. OK… OK he knew it was 0500, he had woken, as usual, 30 seconds before the machine had started squawking.

He struggled out of the duvet that was wrapped around him, and noticed Sam wasn't there. He used the bathroom and changed into his jeans and a shirt.

The rattle of dishes told him where he could find her and he moved silently down the corridor. He had intended to sneak up behind her but at the last minute thought better than to frighten a pregnant woman and he made sure she heard him moving.

"Sorry about yesterday" she said, not turning to face him. He could imagine that she was embarrassed, not that he thought she had anything to be sorry about but he knew her well, and sure enough her next words confirmed it. "I think I feel well enough to go into day, yesterday was just a one off" he wrapped his arms around her.

"I was thinking you would like to come to the gulf, as you have a day off. Help me with the testing" her eyes lit up… she had wanted to work more on the puddle jumpers, but had never managed to secure permission. The PTB had never wanted to risk breaking their only working model, but it shouldn't stop her looking over the newer craft as long as she was in it.

He called Teal'c to tell him he would not be taking Jane, as he had planned to, and they left to go up the mountain at 0530. It was like 'gate travel, he would be setting out with his jumper at 0700, and arriving in the gulf at 17:55, after travelling less than an hour.

They got their dessert camos on and had the security detail kitted out as well and were setting off well before time. Jack took her out of the atmosphere so the men could see Earth from orbit, while he relaxed into the seat and enjoyed the fact that his wife was next to him, and she was enjoying herself.

Sam couldn't control all the systems Jane had, but she could manage the manual ones, screen after screen appeared, strange lights blinked and a couple of times he cancelled orders that she inadvertently commanded, the manual release for the back doors was something he decided to put a warning label on when they returned, it wasn't a good idea to allow Jane to pilot when someone else was shotgun if they could open the doors into vacuum. She may not have recognised the warning the machine sent to its pilot when the circuit was tripped.

Less than an hour later they put down in an abandoned fishing village on the coast of the Persian gulf. Security was tight around what looked like a school and Jack parked his stealthed jumper in a roofless building close by. He radioed for a patrol to guard the building as he and his people disembarked. Sam stayed in the jumper happily testing systems and pushing buttons.

The heat thumped down on them as they walked out, Jack was glad he had on his usual clothes for missions, and pulled his battered baseball cap from his pocket and put it on. He would have collapsed if he had been in full Class As. Much as he hated the cold, the heat in this part of the world brought back some bad memories, and he would be happy to leave.

The patrol turned up as they left the sheltering building, he ordered them to guard the outside but under no circumstances were they to enter, they may wonder what the hell they were doing if they did and saw it 'empty'.

He moved to the school. Instead of the expected 17 he had 20 people waiting for him, he did a roll call of the names he had cut orders for and pulled the three others to the back room of the school. All three stood to rigid attention, and it was only then that he realised he had 3 Brits on his hands.

"Orders from the Secretary of the Defence, Sir" the ranking officer said, coming even more to attention. He handed over a package and Jack noted the IOA marking on the papers he pulled out. It seemed that these three people had already been screened as having the AG and were close enough to be diverted to the meeting. Jack looked through the package, he had orders for each, the same as he had for his own countrymen. He would rather have Brits than Russians any day, he had worked several times with British soldiers in his black ops days and he liked their sense of humour, it was always dark and nasty, like his.

"OK Colonel, you may go back and join the others, I'll be in soon" the dismissed men turned on their heels and smartly marched out of the room, Jack grabbed up his radio but when he asked to be patched through to the IOA all he got was puzzled operators.

He was getting very short tempered when he finally got through to DC and Woolsey and Chapman. He asked how long it would take to fully scan the database and was told probably a couple of weeks, the British had one of the largest standing armies in the world, and it would take almost as long to scan theirs as it had to do the US. Added to which they had no data on their academy people, only serving officers and reserves… and what they called the TA, sort of like the National Guard.

Jack lowered his head and banged it a couple of times on the desk, he could see he would be running around for quite some time to come. He had hoped that after this week things would get into some sort of routine, and all of it being at Cheyenne Mountain.

He growled a farewell to the men in DC and rose to his feet. Time to get today's over with, and get these people back to their posts, after all though it was early morning to him most of these were at the end of an already long day.

He gave the usual speech and tested each person. All 3 Brits were level 3, he had 2 level 3s from the navy, 1 from the AF, and 2 from the army. He had also 1 level 2 AF officer, all the rest were 2s and 1s he dismissed them and told the ones left their new orders. He arranged to pick them up at the same place on Sunday evening… their time… and transport them back to Cheyenne Mountain himself.

They got back to the mountain in plenty of time for lunch, Jack went to his office leaving Sam to visit with Daniel, a plan that had to change when it turned out that Vala had returned from trying to unsuccessfully secure a sarcophagus for Sam, and the pair of them were holed up in her quarters. Through the afternoon Jack got reports of Sam wandering the halls of the SGC like some sort of haunting spirit or a junkie looking for a fix, she hadn't tried to access her lab but she had bugged Walter several times. Jack was trying his best not to interfere with Hanks running of the place, after all that was one of the reasons why people involved with each other weren't allowed in the same chain of command.

He knew his wife, he knew just how much she was wanting to be busy and feel useful, but he in no way wanted to undermine the man he had chosen to run the place. He felt trapped. Before his promotions he wouldn't have given it a second thought, his team had always come first unless the whole planet was at stake, but now Hank was under his command, in other words a part of the team. The bond was nothing at all like the one he had with Daniel and Teal'c not even like the bond he had with Reynolds or Dixon or Ferretti, but still, he felt he had to do everything in his power to protect the man and the authority he had to wield.

He eventually gave in and signed out of the mountain at 1500, taking Sam home, she was full of nervous energy the whole way down the road, she had never been lazy in her life and she was finding it almost more than she could bear.

After they got home he sat down in the small office in the house, he had 38 AGs of various talents and experience, and he was going to have to find some way of sorting them, should he go by rank? Strength of the gene? Age? Time in combat? He scrubbed his face with his hands, this wasn't his usual forte.

He decided to look at it differently and plan as if he were going into combat with them. The 4s were going to be useful in lots of places, however most of them were young and lacking in any experience, and the situations they would be placed in were going to be very dangerous, but Atlantis needed people NOW that could activate the technology.

Jack decided to take anyone with more than 6 months combat experience and get them through the training programme as quickly as possible, no matter what level the AG strength, after Atlantis had enough gene holders to safely run teams offworld he could concentrate on the younger people.

At the moment, due to a recent meeting with the Wraith, there were only 4 AGs on Atlantis not counting Jon or Sheppard, who were able to fly a jumper without a problem. A far cry from the 15 they had managed to get into craft when they had needed to clear a way through an asteroid belt. Even with the Gene therapy there was a very high failure rate, less than 1 in 25 of people given the injection had developed a useful level 2. And 1 in 20 had had a bad reaction. The laws governing drugs and medical testing in the US meant that once they had the numbers only people over in Pegasus had been allowed to continue to try.

They were still fighting a war over there and could only really send out 2 teams at a time, leaving enough people to go to the rescue of them if there was a problem, and one of the natural AGs was a medic who refused to fight under any circumstances, though she didn't mind being a 'taxi driver'.

It was such a totally different situation from the one in the Milky Way, the Goa'uld made people live near the 'gates, so SG teams could usually walk where they needed to go. Because of the Wraith, in Pegasus they scattered as far away as they could. Jumpers were the ONLY proper way to explore.

With down time to just recover from missions, not counting if someone was hurt, it meant they could only be moving two or three missions a month. Not enough for proper intel to protect the outpost.

Of the people from the gulf, 7 of the 9 had more than the minimum experience he had decided was necessary. He sent an email to Teal'c stating the new order he was setting, and the names of the people he wanted to be trained up first.

A crash resounded through the house, he felt his chair move as the floorboards rattled. Jack jumped up and ran into the kitchen… nothing, nor was there any sign in the living room or the bedroom. That left just two places, he went into the guest bedroom, the place they had decided to convert to a nursery.

Sam was laid on the floor, the curtain pole across her lower body, she had evidently been putting up the new curtains she had bought and had slipped. His body went on automatic as he checked her for injury, and called Carolyn Lam at the SGC, within minutes a siren sounded and an ambulance pulled up outside, the security force surrounded it and Jack saw red as he had to leave her side to give permission for the men to enter. There was no sign of her recovering consciousness as they loaded her in the ambulance. He jumped in after her and they broke all speed limits getting up the mountain.

The problem with her physiology meant she couldn't be admitted to the closer hospital and Jack worried that the extra distance would one day mean the difference between life and death, he decided that they would start looking for a closer home to the mountain as soon as she came out of the infirmary.

**OoΩoO**


	23. Chapter 23

**23**

He thanked God when Carolyn told him that she was going to be OK, and added an extra prayer when she told him the baby was fine too.

Sam was suffering from exhaustion. She had hardly slept when he had been injured, plus the damage she had suffered because of the naquadah drop, and she just had not taken the time to recover.

Carolyn recommended at least 2 days in the infirmary, and added that it could possibly be even more before she would allow her to leave.

Sam didn't actually wake properly until Sunday afternoon, she drifted in and out a couple of times but sank back into sleep quickly. Jack had to reluctantly leave her on Sunday morning to go pick up the AGs from the gulf.

He had a massive argument with the SF detail protecting him. In the end he ordered Hank Landry to stand them down… he needed the space in the jumper for others.

Hank reluctantly allowed him to travel on his own and less than 10 minutes from when he had originally planned to leave, he was flying solo over the Atlantic. The one hour, each way trip took less than 25 minutes there and back…including loading time… as he pushed the vehicle to the limit, cramming all 9 people into the one trip. Teal'c and Reynolds were waiting for the new recruits into the programme and settled them into their quarters while Jack sped down to the infirmary again.

Hank was waiting for him, a folder in his hands, and while Jack sat next to his wife the other General spoke.

"You remember Lt. Richards?" he said, Jack looked blank "The young SF with the broken wrist?" he nodded. "Well I put Dr Jackson onto looking into the event, and he has turned up some interesting things." Jack wasn't really interested, but to stop his thoughts churning on Sam he attempted to listen.

"It seems he was assigned to NORAD just 3 week ago, and he wasn't pleased when he was on ground level security to find that some people wouldn't tell him what they did in the mountain. He would ask everyone… quite a gossip is young Mr Richards it seems! Anyway the people who wouldn't tell him, he started to delay them at the sign in, making excuses about their passes not being clear and things." Jack was shocked, why the hell hadn't one of the scientists said something about the idiot?

"He never tried it with the military, only the civilians, and it seems he had decided that as the SG teams were all between 30 and 45 years of age (except Hailey) anyone over the age of 45 who came on base had to be a civilian and he was trying to stop you because he didn't know who you were. He thought you were just another scientist who would look down his nose at the lowly airman and so his attempt to stop you was in the nature of a pre emptive strike. He was recorded in the elevator screaming about how someone who looked like a harmless old man…sorry Jack, his words… had managed to break his wrist!"

Jack wished he had broken more than his wrist! "Anyway it turns out he won't be pressing charges for the incident, as his patrol leader has informed him if he does then he will be up on harassment charges brought by a team of scientists, led by Bill Lee, who heard all about it. Bill has told him that they will forget it happened as long as, one…they don't let it happen again, and two… General O'Neill is not charged" Hank closed the file.

Jack was astounded, Bill Lee had done that for HIM? Why fer cryin out loud? Ok he had gone down to Honduras and pulled Lee and Daniel out from that rebel camp, but this… Jack was overwhelmed. He was fine facing up for what he had done, but he was humbled that the SGC scientists would back him like that!

"I only hope that one day they come to believe I deserve half the loyalty they show you" Hank said, he stood and threw Jack a perfect salute before walking out the doors. Jack sat, astounded, unable to comprehend it all… geeks! Supporting him like this! He wasn't even NICE to most of them! He shook his head, it just proved how strange they all were.

**OoΩoO**

He felt her fingers smooth through his hair, she was always trying to get that stubborn bit at the back of his head to lay flat. And he smiled and moved his head, guiding her fingers to the nape, where he liked to feel her nails scratch. He heard a giggle.

He shot up! She was awake! His gaze met her laughing blue eyes, at last she no longer looked tired.

"How you feeling?" he asked as he smoothed his hand down her cheek, she leant into the touch and held his hand in position.

"Tired, more tired than I should be seeing as I have been asleep most of…" she looked at her watch "two days" she looked a lot brighter than she had for ages, and Jack put it down to the vitamins and glucose that Carolyn had told him she had been pumping into her.

"You really need to slow down though love, this has been another warning, you can't go on like this" he said, worried that she would want to be back in her lab within the hour.

"I know" she sighed "I thought I had accepted it when Carolyn told me to cut back, but it isn't easy" He propped himself on the bed and she moved over slightly to allow him room to lay down, he cuddled her body against his, her head rested on his chest.

"It isn't forever either" he reminded her. "You're 18 weeks along, only 5 more months and it will be over and everything will have been worth it"

"Sam, glad to see you're awake" Carolyn said from the end of the bed "Now you are going to have to slow down… and I mean it! If you need to put up curtains then get the General to climb the ladder!" Jack grinned at his wife… oh he could really see her asking him to do anything except cook!

"I'm giving you some supplements to take, and a food plan, you need more fruit and vitamins in your diet, and if anything like this happens again I'll have to sign you as unfit for duty altogether."

"But…" Sam said, her head lifting from his chest and her face reflecting her shock. She had never been signed unfit unless she was injured in the line of duty.

"But nothing Sam, do you want this baby or not?" Carolyn bluntly asked. Sam blanched, her fingers trembled and Jack tightened his grip on her. He wanted to say something to Carolyn about going too far, but maybe what Sam needed was someone to be blunt with her, she wasn't only putting herself in unnecessary danger. "Every day you work needs to be followed by a day of rest, and I mean rest. No working from home!" the woman looked at his wife, concern etched on her face.

"If I'm working at home at least I aren't tempted to decorate" she tried.

"Nope! No work, not at all, if it wasn't for the fact that the General has to keep in touch 24/7 I would suggest that the computers should be removed, I mean it Sam, you don't want to be in here for the next 22 weeks do you?" Even Jack shuddered at that threat. Neither he nor his wife enjoyed being in the infirmary, but the thought of being there for so long… horrendous.

"I would suggest a holiday, but I know you won't go without General O'Neill, and he won't go" Jack looked at her sharply, her tone had been derisive, but he had never argued with her about going on holiday… in fact he was the ONLY member of SG1 who had been happy to be put on down time in his day.

"That's not fair Carolyn" Sam said "Jack takes all his holidays when he can, we spent almost a month at the cabin last year"

"Yeah, I know… they aren't all the same" the two women discussed him as if he wasn't there, but Jack picked up that it was Hank Carolyn was digging at, not him.

"So can she get out of here?" Jack asked, eager to get her home before he had to be in work the next day.

"If you promise she will rest, then yes… but Sam don't come into work until Wednesday at the earliest" she wrote on a prescription pad and handed the paper to Jack. "the supplements she needs, I only have them in liquid form, any pharmacy will stock them" he nodded, he would collect them on the way home.

Sam soon got dressed and they left the mountain. Jack found another good use for the security detail when he sent the young driver into the pharmacy to fill the prescription, Sam was already slumping against him, it wouldn't be long before she was asleep again.

Once home he carried her from the car to the house, the Colonel in charge of the detail opened the door and let them in, he placed a radio on the side table near the door, to avoid another incident like the one with the ambulance.

Jack nodded his thanks and carried the still sleeping Sam into their room, no matter how much she said she felt better, she had to be exhausted to allow him to carry her in without waking.

He ordered a meal from the Chinese at 1900 and woke her to eat it, he could tell she was struggling to get it down and sighed, "I know you don't feel like eating Sam but you're going to end up in hospital if you don't" he said. She nodded, not lifting her eyes from the plate in front of her.

"I just feel so…" she let out a frustrated puff of air, Jack nodded… he 'felt so…' as well. They scraped the plates and put them in the machine and retired early. Jack lay awake a long time, even though he was shattered, he didn't want to lose either Sam or the baby, and he felt there should be something he could do… anything that would make things a bit easier for her.

**OoΩoO**


	24. Chapter 24

**24**

Two months passed, Jack and Teal'c sent 5 people through to Atlantis in the first month, and 6 more in the second, all combat vets he had picked from the active service men in the first round of testing. Almost all the tested AGs were willing to try at least a 3 month stint over in the Pegasus Galaxy, the few who wouldn't had young families and were quite useful in helping pick apart the remnants of Tartarus. Anubis had left several nasty surprises behind buried in the useful things he had scavenged from other planets, and Jack had already had to write one letter to a family. He hated that part of his job, no one he knew didn't hate it… but it would have been harder if he had been telling his family.

Luke had been sentenced to 3 years, and much to his JAGs disgust he was sent to Leavenworth top security wing, the SGC was really THAT secret they didn't dare put him in the normal population of a prison, he had already spilt the beans to the lawyer and Jack wouldn't have put it past him to speak out while incarcerated.

Christine had tried to get every single family member to plead Lukes case to Jack, but even she was disgusted when shown the security footage, Jack had received a letter from Grace that told of a visit from Lukes oldest children, who were grateful that he was no longer around. He felt kind of vindicated when he realised he may be saving the younger ones from the life he and his siblings had led.

The Brits had come through in fine form, the three he originally tested were in the first group through to Jon, and of the 63 that turned up in the genetic scan, 40 were of a more than usable level 3… a proportion that sent the statisticians crazy. Of the 40 all 40 were willing to go wherever needed.

Russia had only produced 20 AGs so far, but all were willing to travel, China had not volunteered anyone, and wouldn't say if they had any AGs in their military, they refused point blank to allow access to the genetic records.

France was working through slowly, but had already found 10 AGs of usable level, 6 of whom were willing to go through.

Jennifer Hailey asked for and received a transfer to Pegasus with the first batch of AGs, neither Jack nor Hank had wanted to lose the woman from the SGC, as they both saw her as a possible stand in for Sam, but Sam was on her side and persuaded both Generals to allow the young woman to travel to Pegasus for a tour of duty.

**OoΩoO**

"We're going to be LATE!" he shouted from the bottom of the stairs, he heard noises coming from the general direction of their bedroom. They had only moved in the week before, the 'new' house was one of the closest to the base, it was on a large plot of land, with security fencing all around it, it covered the requirements of secrecy, access and was plenty big enough for several children.

Sam had been against even looking for a new house when Jack had first broached the subject, but when he had taken her to see it as they headed home the day she was discharged, she loved it.

It had a pool, and a hot tub at the back… neighbours were far enough away that they would not be bothered if they once more got issued a security detail. It even had a small 'guest house' with a bedroom, bathroom and small kitchen/dining/living room.

Teal'c had moved in two days after the O'Neills.

"SAM!" he yelled again, she appeared at the top of the stairs, his breath caught in his throat. At 26 weeks, she was blooming! He honestly believed she had never looked more beautiful than she did right at that minute. She walked slowly down the stairs, her eyes glued to his the whole way, and he held out his hand as she came in reach.

As she took his hand and completed her journey down the stairs he kissed the ring finger as he had almost every day since his move back to the Springs. His hands caressed the bump, that turned and shifted at his touch. He smiled at her, he loved feeling her flesh move with the child within, it made everything seem real, and immediate.

"I thought we were going to be late" she said, smiling up at him. He shook his head and the nodded, she giggled softly at his obvious confusion.

"Come on, Carolyn will be wondering if something is wrong" he said as he opened the door. The only thing he regretted about the dismissal of the security detail was the fact that the car was cold when they got in, he would have to start running the engine and warming it up before they set out, the winter was closing in and it could get VERY cold in Colorado Springs in the winter, and even colder three quarters of the way up the mountain.

He hit the remote as they approached the gate and only slowed slightly as he passed, Teal'c had already left for work at his usual 0600, Jack had told his staff he was going to be late in as he was escorting Sam on her regular check up.

The mood was light as the couple signed through the various points of security, Jack nodded to the members of his staff that were travelling in the elevator to their level, Jack and Sam went into the second elevator and Jack nodded politely to Bill Lee, he was still overwhelmed by the support of the scientists with the incident a couple of months before, and he took the time to at least acknowledge their existence now, even if he didn't speak to them much.

Carolyn had the scan set up and by the time hey reached the infirmary Sam was complaining that if they didn't get it over with she was going to have an accident, Jack grinned, glad that it wasn't him trying to hold a bladder full as well as a baby who couldn't keep still in such a confined space.

The screen showed the shadow that was their child, at first Jack couldn't see anything, but Carolyn manoeuvred the wand until they could clearly see the baby sucking his thumb, she had told them some time ago that she was almost positive it was a boy, and had explained to Jack how they could be wrong, the cord and swollen genitals making a female look like a male, Jack had blushed as the woman tried to focus in on the relevant part and told her he would take her word for it, the women had shared a smile, that he ignored.

Suddenly Carolyn stopped smiling, she pressed on Sams stomach, causing a hiss from his wife as she tried to control her bladder with the added pressure of the machine. The doctor pressed a couple of buttons, and then a couple more, she moved the wand and pressed yet more buttons.

Sam grabbed Jacks hand, he could tell by the look on her face that she was scared by the physicians actions.

"Carolyn?" Sam asked "What's wrong?"

The woman looked at both parents and sighed. "There's a fluid build-up… it could be nothing but… the machine has all your scans stored in it's memory and I've looked at the last couple and it looks as if it has been building for some time, it's just that now it's notable, actually its pronounced now. I'd like a second opinion on this" Jack couldn't feel his fingers, Sams grip had cut off all blood supply to them. He nodded numbly, again when things seemed to be going well, something came along and kicked him… he just wished whoever it was that ordered his life would punish HIM and not the ones he loved.

He watched as Carolyn walked into her office and started talking on the phone, she was back in a couple of minutes.

"I've spoken with Dr. Gibbs at the Academy hospital, I was hoping I could just upload the results to him, but he wants to see you down there straight away." She said, cleaning the jelly from Sams stomach with a paper towel. "Go use the toilet and then call in the commissary and get something to drink, he wants you there within the hour" Sam lifted off the bed and slowly made her way to the small bathroom at the end of the infirmary.

"How serious is it?" Jack asked

"Not as serious as it probably sounds" she said trying to reassure him, he gave her a bleak look "It could be hydrocephalus, fluid on the brain" she said in a low voice. Jack went pale, he had known a child with that when he was growing up, the child hadn't lived very long and was mentally retarded.

"It's nothing like as serious as it once was General" the woman said "once we know what is wrong we can put a shunt into the brain to drain the fluid away, it no longer leads to brain damage and death as it used to… there's no reason to suppose that even if it IS hydrocephalus that it is sever, like I said the fluid was hardly noticeable last scan." He nodded and stepped back, effectively ending the discussion as Sam exited the bathroom.

They got a couple of bottles of water for Sam to top up her bladder, and made their way to the surface, Jack had no idea what to say to her… but if there was any way his healing ability could help he would drain every last bit of energy he had healing the child!

He was grateful when the young SF who was stood by the door stepped forward and gave a sharp salute and 'offered' to chauffer them to the hospital, he knew Carolyn had contacted her father and recommended that he not drive… he was happy to be able to sit in the back and comfort Sam as they travelled to the far side of the city to the Academy grounds.

Dr. Gibbs was waiting for them when they arrived, he led them into a small room and Sam lay once more on the bed, he scanned her and took measurements. And smiled at them both.

Jack felt relieved at the doctor's smile, but he was soon to be worried again.

"General O'Neill, Colonel… there is a fluid build-up, and though it is hard to say exactly what is wrong at this stage I would recommend a amniocentesis, so we know what to expect when the child is born, we can do the test here, or up at the base, I know Dr Lam is quite capable of doing the test"

"But what about the danger of the test itself" Jack asked

"To be honest, sir, we would usually recommend the test anyway for a woman of your wifes age having her first child, the risks of pregnancy causing harm to the mother, and more the mothers age causing genetic defects in the foetus would have caused me to suggest the test a lot earlier than this if she had been my patient. I don't know why Dr Lam hasn't already done one."

"She hasn't because I told her not to" Sam said, her voice showing the anger she felt at the way the doctor talked over her and not to her. "There's no way in hell I would abort the child so a test wasn't needed"

"Well it is now" he said "If the test comes back positive for hydrocephalus we will need to get the child into corrective surgery as soon as possible after birth, to minimise the risk of brain damage due to fluid pressure" Jack once more lost feeling in his fingers as her grip tightened.

They shared a long look, he read her fears and her reluctance to have the doctor with them do the test.

"We'll have Dr Lam conduct the test" Jack said, Sam smiled at him.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor questioned

"You said she could do it!" Jack snapped

"Well, yes, but" he drew in a breath "Dr Lam told me she was a personal friend, there ARE risks to the procedure, if something should go wrong…"

Jack understood completely, he had already threatened Carolyn once over the well being of his wife and child, would he hold it against her if she did something that caused a miscarriage? The answer was no, he wouldn't… he knew exactly where the blame lay, and it wasn't Carolyn, or Sam.

"Dr Lam will do the test" Jack said firmly. He helped Sam off the table and they walked out of the room.

**OoΩoO**


	25. Chapter 25

**25**

Carolyn arranged for the test to be done the next day, and it was a very nervous couple who sat in the new house unpacking boxes that night. Neither wanted to mention the procedure, nor the problem it was meant to detect. Jack tried several times to make her smile, but her efforts were wan and strained.

They rose at 0600 the next morning and Jack tried his best not to smother her, he felt so helpless, he wanted to show her how much he loved her, how much he wanted to protect her and how much he wanted everything to be alright, but the brittle smile and lack of her usual fluid grace as she moved told him loudly just how tenuous her hold was on herself, so he held back and tried to be as 'normal' as possible.

Her small smile as they exited the house told him he was doing the right thing, but his heart ached as he helped her into the pre warmed car.

When they got to the infirmary it was to witness an argument in progress. Dr Wallace had found out about the test and had evidently asked permission of the JCoS to run a full genetic work up. Which would mean that Carolyn would have to draw more fluid than she had planned.

Carolyn was objecting loudly, but it seemed her father had received orders that morning to green light the test. Jack soon picked up the argument, his voice joining with Carolyns, and it was a good couple of minutes before he realised that Sam wasn't saying anything. He turned to see her slumped on the bed, her head in her hands, weeping.

He felt ashamed immediately, he ordered both Hank and the geneticist to leave, while he moved to comfort his wife.

"Shh" he said, smoothing her golden hair with one hand while his other moved along her spine "Sorry my love" he whispered "I didn't mean… I should have…" he stumbled as he had no idea what he needed to say.

"Do the genetic work-up Carolyn" Sam said to the woman stood at his shoulder, she looked Jack straight in the eye. "If there's anything else, we need to know" he nodded, accepting what she said, while internally he disagreed totally. It was her choice, he would stand by her through it.

The procedure went well, Sam was told she had to stay in the bed for the rest of the day, but she would be allowed out of the base the next day as long as she promised to take it easy.

The 'quick' result would be ready about 48 hours after the test, but the full work-up usually took a couple of weeks. However they were not limited to a public lab, where there were queues for tests to be done, so Carolyn told them they could have the proper full result in just over a week.

Simon Wallace gave them the same timeline for his genetic mapping, though he gave the news through General Landry as he had been intimidated by Jacks actions and was reluctant to confront him again.

Jack stayed on base, Juan brought him the paper work that 'had to be done' but he only moved from his wifes side for the bathroom.

He was shattered the next morning, ancient gene or not, his back and legs protested after sleeping in the hard plastic chairs all night, though he recovered by the time she got out of bed after her breakfast.

She decided to 'visit' with Vala and Daniel, who were planning on getting married some time soon, while he went to work. He sorted through the latest AGs, planning to get them all together in the UK the week after, he was flying more and more often over there, and though he hated the weather, he loved their selection of cakes and pies, and he always tried to time his visits to coincide with 'high tea' at a place called the Country Fayre Café he had found just outside an army barracks in Yorkshire. He was rapidly becoming addicted to scones with cream and 'jam' as the English called it.

They returned home at 1700, and strangely the mood had improved, he wasn't sure if it was because the test was over, or because Sam had some naughty gossip from Vala that he really didn't want to know the details of, but she kept laughing and blushing every time he mentioned the couple or their wedding.

The next day the test was back, and as expected by Carolyn it showed nothing. As she had pointed out, the fluid build up was new and slight, though now easily discernable, and they would have to wait for the full test to be completed.

Sam was at home most of the time now, Carolyn had slowly cut her hours week after week until she was limited to 8 hours a week, which she usually did on Mondays and then sulked around the house the rest of the time. Jack dare not leave her in the new house alone though, he knew she would not be able to resist unpacking, so he arranged for the rest of SG1 to visit and they cleared everything away in the one evening.

Jack worked all week and caught up again on the two days he had been absent, he wondered why he actually came in as often as he did, as he always seemed able to catch up so quickly.

Friday morning Dr Wallace asked to see both the Generals, Dr Lam and Colonel Carter, he sounded urgent and so Jack sent a car to pick up his wife.

"The first thing I want to show you is this…" he clicked the hand control and the screen lit up, two genetic graphs side by side appeared.

At first glance they looked identical but the shaky red light the geneticist was waving showed a couple of differences between the two charts.

"Whos are they?" Carolyn asked.

"This is General O'Neill" he said

"And the other?" she asked

"No you don't understand, they are BOTH General O'Neill" he said

"SO, is that the genetic marker Thor put in me to stop cloning?" Jack asked, remembering Janet trying to explain it to him after he had left mini me with Thor to be 'fixed'

"No, these genetic samples were BOTH taken after that. This is before… and after, the death of the Asgard race" Jack and Hank nodded, his 'gift'. "This…" another two graphs showed up, they looked no different from the first pair "Is the clones genetic make-up, you notice the same two changes?" no wonder they looked the same!

"And THIS…" he showed a single graph "this is the baby, you see the changes that were in both O'Neill males are in the new one as well."

"You mean the baby will have the healing ability?" Jack asked

"I can't say for certain, but I would suggest on the evidence so far, that it is likely" the doctor looked smug "I will have the rest of the chart later in the week, but I forced this test to see what the results would be here…and here" his pointer moved madly on the screen.

"You got us all together and you don't even have the full results?" Jack growled, the scientist looked surprised by his attitude, but he helped Sam to her feet and they left the room, he knew she was as eager to get away as he was, she didn't want him to beat the crap out of the man and face charges instead of attending the babys birth instead.

**OoΩoO**

Again the week dragged, they had a small celebration for Jane when she got her promotion through, she proudly displayed the leaves on her uniform, a richly deserved promotion according to both Teal'c and Jack.

Major Jane Flynn and her brothers Philip and Matt were scheduled to go through to Atlantis on the Friday and Jack invited all three around for a meal on the Wednesday before they left. He didn't know the two men very well, but had spent a lot of time with Jane since she came to the programme, and he was pleased to see a lot of her mother in her.

They were going to travel with 3 Brits, a Russian and 2 French, bringing Atlantis up to more AGs than they had ever had, even with gene therapy.

They had a pleasant evening, and Jack had just seen them off to their cars when Sam cried out.

She was on the floor, her hands over her stomach…obviously in pain.

Jack dialled Carolyn and lifted her into the car, they made it to the SGC in record time, but too late to stop the labour.

Jacob Jonathan O'Neill was born at 28 weeks, weighing in at 1lb 3 oz. Carolyn had an incubator already at the SGC and he was placed inside as soon as he was born.

Jack was torn between comforting a very upset and worried Sam and wanting to see his son. Carolyn gave Sam a breast pump and asked her to try and fill a bottle for the baby, but try as she might she couldn't produce any milk.

Jack was taken into the sterile room and he held the baby and helped feed him, via a nose tube and a small syringe, his first feed, after he held the child, bringing his considerable determination to focus upon a single point at the base of the babies skull. He felt… another presence as he fought to bring balance to the chaos he sensed around the childs body, he guessed it was because the baby was born so early.

Jon arrived in the small hours of the morning and he also spent time touching the child and concentrating. Both men were exhausted by their efforts and slept well into the next day.

Jon then tried to help the baby while Jack comforted Sam, Carolyn wouldn't allow her out of bed yet and so she had not got to hold young Jacob as she couldn't go through the rigorous cleaning that the doctor was insisting everyone go through.

Simon Wallace could be heard in the corridor as Jack sat on the bed with Sam in his arms. Eventually Carolyn came onto the ward and moved to sit in the chair that Jack was supposed to be using.

"The results of the test came back, of both tests" she clarified. "According to the test I ran, Jacob tested positive for hydrocephalus, however I examined Jacob at his birth and again a couple of hours ago, and I can say with some certainty that I don't think there is anything to worry about, I don't know if the General and Colonel have anything to do with his lack of fluid, or if he had so little that it is undetectable, or even if he managed to heal himself, which is what Dr Wallace is insisting, but whichever scenario is correct, your son seems to be very healthy, especially for a child so small, and actually for the gestation time he isn't small. That's a respectable weight for a child of 28 weeks!

"Dr. Wallace is insisting that I share the result of his full genetic work-up, he is insisting that Jacob IS a strong AG, probably with the healing power that you yourself display General, and he thinks it is possible that the child may be even stronger than yourself… a 'potential 5' he is terming it, he has asked that somehow we get the child to activate the ancient life-signs detector, to test" she rolled her eyes, mute comment to her thoughts on that idea, Jack snorted, how the hell could you tell a baby to activate the machine? He dismissed the idea out of hand.

Jack had tightened his grip on his wife as she cried at the news of Jacobs illness, and then again at his apparent 'cure', and shortly after Carolyn allowed Jack to wheel her into the room with the baby, Jon wasn't there, but Jack lifted the side panel down and brought the tiny bundle out, Sam was trembling as she reached for him, but the shaking stopped the second her fingers made contact, and though she could not feed him herself she brought the restless child to her breast, where he immediately calmed.

Jack looked down on the most perfect sight a man could witness, his wife holding their first born child, the baby still faced battles, being so small and early from his mother there were any number of complications that could set in, but Jack was confident that the young man was a fighter and would overcome anything thrown at him. He remembered his thoughts at the start of the year, everything WAS connected, and everything was genetic… and here in front of him was living proof.


End file.
